A Scoping Review of Validity Evidence for Technology-Mediated Assessments of Youth Mental Health

School Mental Health https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-025-09760-3 REVIEW PAPER A Scoping Review of Validity Evidence for Technology‑Mediated Assessments of Youth Mental Health Carly Oddleifson1 · Ishan N. Vengurlekar1 Katie Eklund1 · Stephen Kilgus1 · Chloe Hendrix1 · Temma Levis1 · Ellen Anderson1 · Accepted: 2 April 2025 © The Author(s) 2025 Abstract Schools have become a primary context for assessing and addressing social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties in response to the youth mental health crisis. However, traditional paper-based assessments are often hindered by time constraints and rater bias, limiting their effectiveness for early identification and intervention. Technology-mediated assessments, such as smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA), offer potential solutions to these limitations. Despite their increasing use in clinical and research settings, their validity for school-based assessment remains largely unexplored. This interdisciplinary scoping review synthesized literature from fields such as clinical psychology, psychiatry, and education to examine technology-mediated youth mental health assessments relevant to schools. A systematic search identified ten studies that provided validity evidence for at least one of five methodologies: smartphone-based EMA, passive smartphone measures, wearable sensors, motion-tracking technology, and virtual reality assessment. While these technologies show promise in clinical and research settings, no studies systematically evaluated their validity for school-based screening, progress monitoring, or diagnostic decision-making in preK–12 settings. Most notably, there was no research on the social consequences of these assessments. These findings highlight a critical gap in research on the appropriateness of these assessments for schools. Without validation in school populations, their use risks unintended consequences, including misinterpretation of results and inequitable implementation. Future research must rigorously examine the validity, and especially the consequential validity, of these assessments in school settings to ensure they enhance rather than compromise mental health support for students. Keywords Assessment · Technology · Ecological momentary assessment · Wearable sensors · Virtual reality · Motiontracking Introduction The U.S. Surgeon General has declared youth mental health a crisis, with data now indicating a 29% increase in the prevalence of depression among youth ages 5–17 years from 2016 to 2020 (Lebrun-Harris et al., 2022). This makes the need for innovative and effective assessment methods in schools increasingly urgent. Assessment results can be used to identify youth who need support, understand their needs, and determine if they are responding to treatment * Carly Oddleifson 1 Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1025 W. Johnson St, Madison, WI 53706, USA (Chafouleas et al., 2021).Traditional paper-and-pencil assessments often suffer from rater bias, are subject to social desirability bias by students, and are limited in their ability to capture real-time fluctuations in behavior and emotions, impacting the quality of identification and progress monitoring. Technology-mediated assessments offer the potential to overcome these limitations by providing objective measures and facilitating real-time monitoring of student behaviors and emotions. For instance, wearable devices can provide objective data about physical symptoms that traditional questionnaires may not capture. The rise and proliferation of computing technology have resulted in many assessments moving to a digital format, as well as the rise of new and innovative methodologies that have pushed the boundaries of assessment practices. Though exciting, such developments require careful consideration of ethical issues Vol.:(0123456789) School Mental Health and implementation challenges that could arise when using technology-mediated assessments. Responsible research practices also call for collecting validity evidence within the contexts where the assessments will be administered (Kilgus et al., 2016). To that end, the purpose of this interdisciplinary scoping review was to examine research on the use of technology-mediated youth mental health assessments in schools. We begin the paper with a context for this work, building toward a specific justification for this research grounded in the need to understand the performance and impact of technology-mediated assessments in school settings. Youth Mental Health Mental well-being extends beyond simply the absence of mental health disorders or psychological difficulties; it also involves the presence of positive attributes, such as personal strengths, coping skills, and resilience (Suldo & Shaffer, 2008). Broader social and environmental factors are associated with youth mental health, as indicated by higher mental health concerns among children during the pandemic compared to prior years (Elharake et al., 2022; Kauhanen et al., 2023). Social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) concerns and mental health challenges appear to be heightened among LGBTQ + , socioeconomically disadvantaged, and ethnic-racial minoritized students (Anderson & Mayes, 2010; Georgiades et al., 2018; Marraccini et al., 2022; Reiss, 2013). Another environmental factor hypothesized to contribute to the youth mental health crisis is the widespread availability of affordable smartphones and internet access, which has created a world where social media is almost universally accessible (Haidt, 2024). Although youth mental health challenges are widespread (Merikangas et al., 2010), less than half of students experiencing challenges receive mental health services (Avenevoli et al., 2015). Given that mental health concerns and developmental needs vary across different age groups, research examining youth mental health often includes children and adolescents ranging from early childhood to late adolescence (ages 3–18). To combat the youth mental health crisis, it is imperative for schoolbased professionals to know which students are struggling and to what extent they are responding to school-based interventions. School‑Based Mental Health Assessment Schools function as the primary and often most consistent setting to identify and address students’ mental health concerns (Duong et al., 2021). Central to better understanding youth mental health concerns are assessments, which are used for one or more common purposes: universal screening, progress monitoring, and diagnosis/evaluation (Chafouleas et al., 2021; National Center on Intensive Intervention, 2024). As a core component of the multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) framework, universal screening allows schools to identify students at-risk for developing mental health challenges and provide those students with early intervention (Romer et al., 2020). After using universal screening to identify students who (...truncated)