Moderated online social therapy

Abstract

Although the use and prevalence of Web-based mental health applications have grown over the past decade, many of these services suffer high rates of attrition. This is problematic, as face-to-face support for mental health is limited. To determine appropriate design guidelines for increasing engagement, we conducted a study of First-Episode Psychosis (FEP) patients and reviewed theories on the use of existing online services. We produced a set of design goals, developed an online application that combined social networking and online therapy within a clinician-moderated site, and conducted a 6-week trial with a group of young FEP patients. The design goals, based on existing theory including Supportive Accountability and Positive Psychology, are operationlised through a model we call Moderated Online Social Therapy (MOST). The trial results indicate that our implementation achieved the design goals and that the MOST model can inform the development of more effective and engaging online therapies.

Evidence-Based Evaluation of eHealth Interventions: Systematic Literature Review

“…However, concerning case studies, all conducted evaluation at the end of the intervention. Although several aspects of evaluation have been found in conceptual articles [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]41], the case studies mostly evaluated clinical [20,[42][43][44][46][47][48][49][52][53]55,[59][60][61][64][65], and human/social aspects [42,[46][47][48][49][53][54][55]59,61,63,65].…”

Promoting Mental Wellbeing in Young People Aged 12–18 Years: Opportunities for Design

“…For example, studies include a computer game implementing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) designed to support face-to-face clinical interventions with young people experiencing problems including depression and anxiety (Coyle et al 2011); and a moderated online therapy and social networking website designed for young people recovering from First-Episode-Psychosis (FEP) (Lederman et al 2014;Wadley et al 2013).…”

Evidence-Based Evaluation of eHealth Interventions: Systematic Literature Review (Preprint)

“…However, concerning empirical studies, all conducted evaluation at the end of the intervention. Although several aspects of evaluation have been found in conceptual articles [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]41], the empirical studies only evaluated clinical and human/social aspects [45,51,61,65].…”