Abstract
BackgroundThere is growing demand for peer workers (people who use their own lived experience to support others in their recovery) to work alongside consumers to improve outcomes and recovery. Augmenting the workforce with peer workers has strong capacity to enhance mental health and recovery outcomes and make a positive contribution to the workforce within mental health systems and to the peer workers themselves. Technology-based applications are highly engaging and desirable methods of service delivery.ObjectiveThis project is an exploratory proof-of-concept study, which aims to determine if a peer worker-led electronic mental (e-mental) health recovery program is a feasible, acceptable, and effective adjunct to usual treatment for people with moderate to severe mental illness.MethodsThe study design comprises a recovery app intervention delivered by a peer worker to individual consumers at an adult mental health service. Evaluation measures will be conducted at post-intervention. To further inform the acceptability and feasibility of the model, consumers will be invited to participate in a focus group to discuss the program. The peer worker, peer supervisor, and key staff at the mental health service will also be individually interviewed to further evaluate the feasibility of the program within the health service and further inform its future development.ResultsThe program will be delivered over a period of approximately 4 months, commencing June 2017.ConclusionsIf the peer worker-led recovery app is found to be feasible, acceptable, and effective, it could be used to improve recovery in mental health service consumers.
Highlights
Peer work is a rapidly growing industry in Australia and internationally [1,2,3,4]
The study design comprises a recovery app intervention delivered by a peer worker to individual consumers at an adult mental health service
Current evidence suggests that peer work can make a positive difference in mental health services [1,5]; the role and definition of peer work is flexible and the practice is implemented in a variety of ways and settings [2]
Summary
Peer work is a rapidly growing industry in Australia and internationally [1,2,3,4]. Technology-based electronic mental (e-mental) health is a rapidly growing industry. These mental health interventions can be cost-effective to implement and there is growing evidence to support their effectiveness [6]. It has been proposed that peer support interventions may be able to increase the uptake and completion of e-mental health interventions [8]. The proposed project will assess the acceptability of presenting an e-mental health app led by a peer worker. There is growing demand for peer workers (people who use their own lived experience to support others in their recovery) to work alongside consumers to improve outcomes and recovery. Technology-based applications are highly engaging and desirable methods of service delivery
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