The purpose of this paper is to map and critically appraise evidence on how immersive and interactive digital technologies, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and serious games, are used to promote adolescent mental health, identity development and social well-being in UK education and youth-service settings.
A scoping review followed the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses- scoping review (PRISMA-ScR) checklist and was preregistered on the Open Science Framework (osf.io/yrdx9). Searches of Web of Science, Scopus, PsycINFO, ERIC and grey literature sources identified English language studies (2010–2025) involving adolescents aged 11–18, immersive or interactive technologies and psychosocial outcomes. Two reviewers independently screened, charted data and applied Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools. Thematic synthesis compared design features, facilitation practices and reported outcomes.
A total of 14 UK-based sources (eight empirical studies, three grey-literature evaluations, two reviews, one conceptual paper) met the criteria. Interventions used VR, AR, serious games or hybrid extended-reality approaches. Reported benefits included improved mood, confidence, empathy and emotion regulation, especially when experiences were co-designed with young people and embedded in educational or therapeutic contexts with structured preparation and debrief. Unmoderated or commercially driven environments sometimes reproduce offline vulnerabilities such as exclusion, appearance anxiety and harassment. Evidence quality was mixed and largely short-term, with few controlled or longitudinal designs.
Findings provide actionable guidance for schools, youth services and digital-health developers: immersive tools should be co-designed with diverse young people, embedded in familiar settings and delivered with structured facilitation and clear safeguarding to maximise mental-health benefit and minimise risk.
This is the first scoping review synthesising UK evidence on immersive digital technologies as mental-health–promoting interventions for adolescents across education and youth services. It identifies design principles, agency, guided reflection, inclusive co-production and safeguarding by design that underpin effective practice and highlights the need for equity-focused, longitudinal research.
