A Study of a Digital Mental Health Programme for Mental Wellbeing Among Chinese Immigrant Adolescents in New Zealand

Participants in the intervention group will use a digital mental health programme, the Smiling Mind mobile application, which is a mindfulness-based programme containing guided breathing and meditation exercises specifically designed for adolescents. This study is conducted by a PhD candidate from the Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago. The researcher has experience in teaching mental health courses at secondary school level, as well as qualitative research experience related to mental health and digital mental health programmes (including Smiling Mind) involving Chinese immigrant adolescents and their parents/guardians. The intervention will be delivered online through participants’ personal electronic devices, such as smartphones or tablets. During the 3-week intervention period, participants will receive weekly emails outlining the activities to be completed for that week and will be free to arrange their own frequency and duration of use (approximately 15 minutes per day on average). After completing the baseline questionnaires and the post-intervention questionnaires at the end of the 3-week intervention, participants will continue to use the programme freely for an additional 1-month period before completing the follow-up questionnaires. To improve intervention adherence, weekly reminder emails will be sent to participants or their parents/guardians (according to participant preference), and participants will be asked to submit screenshots of their programme usage at the end of each week. Participants in the intervention group will use mindfulness-based audio content in the Smiling Mind app intended for teens. As participants in this study are secondary school students in Years 9–13, the intervention will use content categorised as “teens” within the app. This age categorisation has been confirmed through communication with the Smiling Mind team. The programme content will primarily involve five models (Live Mindfully, Grow Connections, Flexible Thinking, Act Purposefully, and Recharge Your Body), which are intended to support and promote participants’ mental wellbeing. No specialised equipment or additional materials will be required. Participants will access the audio content using their personal electronic devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets, or laptops). During the 3-week intervention period, participants will receive weekly emails outlining the audio activities to be completed each week. The intervention schedule will be as follows: Week 1: Live Mindfully; Week 2: Grow Connections, Flexible Thinking, Act Purposefully, and part of Recharge Your Body; Week 3: remaining Recharge Your Body content. As the length and content of each model vary, this schedule is intended to minimise participant burden and reduce potential pressure associated with prolonged use, while allowing participants to complete approximately 15 minutes of practice per day on average.