Editorial: Welcome to MHDT in 2026

AI = artificial intelligence; andUX = user-experience.Welcome to this first issue of Mental Health and Digital Technologies for 2026.In this first issue we present seven papers – these continue to reflect the diversity of areas of interest in the field and span examinations of the use of technology to enhance the provision of mental healthcare, how technologies may assist in overcoming barriers to mental health provision and beyond, discussion of problematic technology use and how technology itself may represent a barrier which needs to be overcome.We look forward to presenting further issues of the journal during 2026. In addition, at the close of this year, Dr Natasha Tonge, Dr Page Anderson and Dr Lucretia Williams will present a Special Issue on “Designing Artificial Intelligence for Mental Health Intervention and Support”. Further information can be found in the call for papers (Link to the cited article.), which has already been published on the journal website. Submissions are open and are due to close at the end of April.As for this first issue, we begin with two articles from colleagues at the University of Cambridge and La Trobe University, which combine to represent a wider literature review concerning the use of digital tools for adults with emerging mental health concerns. The first of these articles systematically reviews the literature regarding socioemotional outcomes in brief digital interventions, finding that digital mental health innovations produced short-term effects across a number of outcomes with some sustained benefits, but were less effective or ineffective for anger management and positive affect. This review also reports on the impact of a number of elements associated with digital intervention effectiveness such as personalisation, co-design and theoretical basis of the therapeutic content. The second paper reviews research examining user-experience (UX) outcomes and serves to highlight the benefits of co-design in strengthening the usability, credibility and acceptability of digital interventions. A number of aspects of digital mental health innovations perceived to be valuable and add to their credibility are discussed and authors make notable recommendations for improving UX psychometric instrumentation and diversity inclusion.Our next article from Dr Maria Kekic and colleagues presents a multi-site evaluation of a contactless patient monitoring platform for enhancing safety in mental health hospitals. Results show that while outcomes varied by ward, most showed decreases in event rates following adoption of the monitoring platform. Authors discuss the potential value of the platform in managing diverse safety risks and contribution to national safety improvement initiatives.Next, colleagues from Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and the University of Liverpool report on a systematic review of artificial intelligence (AI) in psychological counselling, reporting that AI functions and features, program design and user emotional factors are the primary contributors to willingness to use AI for counselling purposes. Authors propose strategies to improve AI performance in this area and to assist both counsellors and practitioners with its use.This issue’s practitioner paper is presented by Hanni Flaherty who provides a practitioner-oriented conceptual synthesis of the challenges and opportunities associated with adopting digital mental health innovations in mental health care. The article addresses some of the major individual and organisational challenges associated with the implementation of digital mental health innovations and discusses how, through collaborative approaches, stakeholders can develop trust and enhance the alignment of innovations with clinical needs and improve patient outcomes.Safaria and Amanah present data to examine the influence of four attachment dimensions on problematic social media use among university students, finding that problematic use was negatively predicted by secure attachments, but positively predicted by avoidant attachment. A most positive effect of anger is also reported, and authors discuss the role of relational security in digital wellbeing, suggesting that improving the quality of attachments may help to mitigate problematic online engagement and foster healthier uses of technology in young people.Finally in this issue, we present a narrative-integrative review grounded in communication theory, organisational psychology and learning sciences from Stephanie Bilderback, which examines the growing role of Snapchat in professional context, concentrating on its impact on organisational communication, employee engagement, training practices and overall productivity. The article discusses the opportunities and risks in this area, including how ephemeral and mobile-first media platforms reshape workplace communication and collaboration dynamics and present challenges such as digital fatigue, heightened social comparison pressures and implications for cross-cultural communication. This paper highlights the need for intentional and inclusive incorporation of informal communication tools in professional environments.This concludes this first issue of the year. Once again we thank our authors for their submissions and our reviewers and editorial board for their work in supporting the journal. We look forward to bringing you our next issue later in the year.