Resumen
Background: Peer support is an emotional, social, and practical help provided by nonprofessionals to assist others in sustaining health behaviors. Peer support is valued in recovery-oriented models of mental health and is becoming increasingly implemented at the organizational level. Text messaging is a relatively low-cost, high-impact, and easily scalable program that uses existing technology, is devoid of geographic barriers, and is easily accessible to end users. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an innovative peer support system plus a supportive text messaging program on the recovery of discharged patients from acute psychiatric care. Methods: This prospective, rater blinded, controlled observational study included 181 patients who were discharged from acute psychiatric care. Patients were randomized to one of four conditions: treatment as usual (follow-up care), daily supportive text messages only, peer support only, or peer support plus daily supportive text messages. A standardized self-report measure of recovery (Recovery Assessment Scale [RAS]) was completed at baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months. Descriptive analysis, one-way analysis of variance, and repeated measures multivariate analysis of covariance were used to examine the changes in the RAS among the study groups and over the follow-up time points. Results: A total of 65 patients completed the assessments at each time point. For the overall sample, higher scores were found for the peer support plus text message condition compared with the text message only and treatment as usual condition on several scales (ie, willingness to ask for help and personal confidence and hope) and total score on the RAS, after 6 months of intervention. Conclusions: Peer support plus supportive text messaging seems to result in improved recovery compared with other interventions. It may be advisable to incorporate the two interventions as part of routine practice for patients with psychiatric disorders upon hospital discharge.
| Idioma original | English |
|---|---|
| Número de artículo | e27137 |
| Publicación | JMIR Formative Research |
| Volumen | 5 |
| N.º | 9 |
| DOI | |
| Estado | Published - sep. 2021 |
| Publicado de forma externa | Sí |
Nota bibliográfica
Funding Information:The authors thank the unit managers and staff of the Alberta Hospital Edmonton and the psychiatric ward of the University of Alberta Hospital, the Royal Alexandra Hospital, the Gray Nuns Community Hospital, and the Misericordia Hospital in Edmonton for facilitating the recruitment of patients into the study. The authors also thank the Edmonton zone Addiction and Mental Health Peer Support Practice Council for providing peer support services for this study over and above their regular contracted work. Furthermore, the authors thank Drs Graham Gaine, Kris Uitvlugt, Julia Burbidge, and Laura Leclair as well as mental health therapists and Addiction and Mental Health service users who attend the Edmonton Mental Health Clinic located in the 108 St in down town Edmonton for assisting in development of the cognitive behavioral therapy–informed text messages. This work was funded by the Douglas Harding Trust Fund, the Alberta Mental Health Foundation, and Alberta Health Services. The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, and approval of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the results for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© Reham Shalaby, Marianne Hrabok, Pamela Spurvey, Rabab M Abou El-Magd, Michelle Knox, Rebecca Rude, Wesley Vuong, Shireen Surood, Liana Urichuk, Mark Snaterse, Andrew J Greenshaw, Xin-Min Li, Vincent Israel Opoku.
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Health Informatics
- Medicine (miscellaneous)
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article
ODS de las Naciones Unidas
Este resultado contribuye a los siguientes Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible
