Online and Recovery-Oriented Support Groups Facilitated by Peer Support Workers in Times of COVID-19: Protocol for a Feasibility Pre-Post Study

Abstract

Background In times of pandemics, social distancing, isolation, and quarantine have precipitated depression, anxiety, and substance misuse. Scientific literature suggests that patients living with mental health problems or illnesses (MHPIs) who interact with peer support workers (PSWs) experience not only the empathy and connectedness that comes from similar life experiences but also feel hope in the possibility of recovery. So far, it is the effect of mental health teams or programs with PSWs that has been evaluated. Objective This paper presents the protocol for a web-based intervention facilitated by PSWs. The five principal research questions are whether this intervention will have an impact in terms of (Q1) personal-civic recovery and (Q2) clinical recovery, (Q3) how these recovery potentials can be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, (Q4) how the lived experience of persons in recovery can be mobilized to cope with such a situation, and (Q5) how sex and gender considerations can be taken into account for the pairing of PSWs with service users beyond considerations based solely on psychiatric diagnoses or specific MHPIs. This will help us assess the impact of PSWs in this setting. Methods PSWs will lead a typical informal peer support group within the larger context of online peer support groups, focusing on personal-civic recovery. They will be scripted with a fixed, predetermined duration (a series of 10 weekly 90-minute online workshops). There will be 2 experimental subgroups—patients diagnosed with (1) psychotic disorders (n=10) and (2) anxiety or mood disorders (n=10)—compared to a control group (n=10). Random assignment to the intervention and control arms will be conducted using a 2:1 ratio. Several instruments will be used to assess clinical recovery (eg, the Recovery Assessment Scale, the Citizenship Measure questionnaire). The COVID-19 Stress Scales will be used to assess effects in terms of clinical recovery and stress- or anxiety-related responses to COVID-19. Changes will be compared between groups from baseline to endpoint in the intervention and control groups using the Student paired sample t test. Results This pilot study was funded in March 2020. The protocol was approved on June 16, 2020, by the Research Ethics Committees of the Montreal Mental Health University Institute. Recruitment took place during the months of July and August, and results are expected in December 2020. Conclusions Study results will provide reliable evidence on the effectiveness of a web-based intervention provided by PSWs. The investigators, alongside key decision makers and patient partners, will ensure knowledge translation throughout, and our massive open online course (MOOC), The Fundamentals of Recovery, will be updated with the evidence and new knowledge generated by this feasibility study. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04445324; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04445324 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) PRR1-10.2196/22500

Social Support and Dietary Habits as Anxiety Level Predictors of Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Support of a close person was significantly different according to both gender and university in the Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA analysis, but only in the case of males and National Academy of National Guard of Ukraine students was it a significant predictor for the regression model. This sense of support from partners [42], friends and coworkers [43] or family [44,45] played an important role in mental health and wellbeing during periods of lockdown and social distancing. This study did not specify what kind of close person the question was referring to, so different factors concerning social life could be taken into account.…”

The Role of Social Media in the Experiences of COVID-19 Among Long-Hauler Women: Qualitative Study

“…These groups are typically disease specific and can be described as communities where individuals can congregate and engage in broader group discussions as a form of social connection [ 50 ]. Support groups function to allow members to affirm their long-hauler identity, maintain connections, combat isolation, seek support, compare experiences, share remedies, and coruminate [ 51 - 53 ]. Long-hauler women seek reassurance through channels of connection with others who share their disease-specific identity and to cope with a social environment characterized by mortality, unemployment, resource loss, and psychological burdens of prevention measure adherence and disease [ 54 ].…”

Digitization in health-related self-help – Results of an online survey among self-help organizations in Germany

“…In principle, mutual aid and peer support also work online, 13 especially during the pandemic. 14 – 18 Ultimately, however, it depends on the people, which form of mutual support they prefer. 19 , 20 …”

“…However, as mentioned above, we could not find studies that directly address the impact of the pandemic on SHGs' and SHOs' needs, changes and challenges. Although there are some recent studies dealing with online mutual aid in the pandemic, [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] these give either no or only few answers to how SHGs and SHOs deal with these challenges, or whether and how they are changing. Nevertheless, we expect that there will be some more of these studies in the near future.…”

“…In principle, mutual aid and peer support also work online, 13 especially during the pandemic. [14][15][16][17][18] Ultimately, however, it depends on the people, which form of mutual support they prefer. 19,20 With regard to the future, the most frequent conclusion of the self-help representatives is that there will be both forms of SHGs and communication: face-to-face and online, but also mixed forms or in alternating sequence.…”