Online Peer Support in Long-term Conditions

Summary

Over 15 million people in England live with a long-term physical health condition. Low mood, loneliness and worry related to chronic illness are very common. In partnership with people with long-term conditions we have co-designed an online peer support platform to help people with health problems connect, support others, share experiences, and receive evidence-based information and advice on self-management.

This study explores if the platform is feasible to implement and acceptable for people with long-term conditions experiencing mild depressive symptoms. Those allocated to the intervention arm will be invited to try out an online peer support platform with psychoeducational resources named "CommonGround". Those in the control arm will be guided to use the National Health Service NHS "Mental Health" webpages.

Conditions

• Long-term Physical Health Conditions
• Subthreshold Depression

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

CommonGround

Through collaboration with people living with LTCs, clinicians, academics, and web design experts, we have co-designed an online peer support and psychoeducation platform to help people with physical health conditions connect, support others, share experiences, and receive evidence-based information and advice on self-management. The web-based platform offers users access to peer support forums with embedded psychoeducation content. The following components are key features of the platform: * A discussion forum * A private "My Garden" page that stores posts from other users and psychoeducation content that the user has decided to 'save'. * A "resources" page giving access to evidence-based psychoeducation material on the mind-body link * A 'Crisis and Further Support' page, where users can find further organisations and sources of support, particularly for crisis situations. The peer support platform does not offer one-to-one or crisis support.

BEHAVIORAL

NHS Mental Health

Participants in the control arm will be directed towards the "Mental Health" webpage(s), an online resources page provided by the NHS. These resources are not specifically targeted at people living with LTCs. They include information sheets and mental health support on topics such as advice for life situations and events. Additionally, it hosts a "self-help" section that includes guides, tools, and activities to support mental health, but does not include any interactive or peer support elements.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• BitJam

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• King's College London

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Matthew Hotopf, PhD, FRCPsych, FMedSci · King's College London

• Elly Aylwin-Foster, MSc · King's College London

• Ewan Carr, PhD · King's College London

• Vanessa Lawrence, PhD · King's College London

• Alan Simpson, PhD · King's College London

• Ciara Regan, MSc · King's College London

• Hannah G Jones, BSc · King's College London

• Grace Lavelle, PhD · King's College London

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-02-12

Primary Completion

2024-10-30

Completion

2024-12-03

Countries

• United Kingdom

Study Locations