The Future of Peer Support in Digital Psychiatry: Promise, Progress, and Opportunities.

Abstract

This selective review highlights promising findings and future opportunities relevant to digital peer support services. This review considered literature published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals within the past 36 months. Digital peer support spans multiple technology modalities: peer-delivered and smartphone-supported interventions, peer-supported asynchronous technology, artificial peer support, informal peer-to-peer support via social media, video games, and virtual worlds. Digital peer support is an emerging area of research that shows promise in improving mental health symptoms, medical and psychiatric self-management skill development, social functioning, hope, and empowerment. As the science of peer support in digital psychiatry advances, peer support specialists will likely have an increasingly important role in the mental health workforce-from providing evidence-based, fidelity-adherent interventions to expanding their reach to vulnerable populations and communities.