Effectiveness of digital educational technologies in knowledge acquisition for adolescent health promotion: a systematic review.

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the evidence on the effectiveness of digital educational technologies in knowledge acquisition for adolescent health promotion.

Method: this is a systematic review of effectiveness conducted in accordance with the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis guidelines. The search was performed in the Virtual Health Library (VHL), Scopus, Web of Science, Excerpta Medica dataBASE (EMBASE), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC). The analysis included a narrative synthesis and categorization of effectiveness based on effect size and statistical significance, with the risk of bias assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool.

Results: fifteen studies were included, encompassing 14,733 adolescents aged 10 to 19 years. Interventions were primarily conducted in school settings, followed by online, outpatient, and community environments. The main topics addressed included HIV prevention, drug use, pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections, as well as the promotion of oral, mental, and sexual health. Different modalities were identified, with emphasis on mobile interventions, audiovisual resources, gamification, and interactive multimedia. Interactive and hybrid multimedia interventions, which combine digital elements with in-person support, demonstrated greater impact on knowledge acquisition. In contrast, digital educational technologies based on static or minimally interactive content showed lower effectiveness.

Conclusion: digital educational technologies (DETs) demonstrated different levels of effectiveness in enhancing adolescents' knowledge on health promotion, depending on the type of intervention, level of interactivity, and context of implementation. Interactive, multimedia, and hybrid interventions showed greater impact, whereas strategies based on static or minimally interactive content were less effective. It is noteworthy that factors such as inequalities in access to technology and cultural adaptation may influence these outcomes.