Project Name
CIMAID Chart Review
Areas of Focus
Problematic Media Use
Duration
3 years (2023-2025)
Collaborators
The Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders (CIMAID) at Boston Children’s Hospital
Faculty Leads
Additional Colleagues
- Michael Tsappis, MD, CIMAID
- Michael Carter, PhD, Digital Wellness Lab
- Nicole Powell, MSW, Digital Wellness Lab
- Kathy Cooney, LICSW, CIMAID
Overview
The Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders (CIMAID) is a specialty clinic within the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital that evaluates and treats children, adolescents, and young adults – and supports their parents and caregivers – to adopt and sustain healthy lifestyles and behaviors.
This study will investigate clinical charts among previous and current patients to identify key risk factors and commonalities among patients experiencing problematic interactive media use (PIMU).
Objectives
This review will enable us to better understand the behavior and emotional functioning of young people struggling with PIMU.
We will also identify patterns in environmental, behavioral, and relationship-based circumstances that may be risk factors for PIMU, as well as the significant behaviors or events that prompted each patient’s referral to the clinic. By identifying common patterns, we can better understand how digital media use impacts young people’s wellbeing and help clinicians develop more effective treatments and support strategies.
Methodology
We reviewed 205 anonymized medical charts from patients (ages 9-24) who visited a clinic specializing in problematic media use between 2017 and 2021. These charts provided information from each patient’s first clinical session, including their background, media-related concerns, and any mental health diagnoses. Using NVivo and AI tools (internal ChatGPT-4o), we analyzed the data to identify common patterns and to categorize patient experiences into five key areas.
Preliminary Findings
Please check back in late 2025 for more updates.
Publications
Carter, M. C., Powell, N., Bediou, B., Tsappis, M., Bickham, D., & Rich, M. (2025). Placing Problematic Media Use in Context: A Research Synthesis, Person-Centric Framework, and Chart Review among a Clinical Sample of US Youth. Frontiers in Psychiatry, Digital Mental Health.
For more information about this study, please contact dwl@childrens.harvard.edu.
