scholarly journals Peer Support Among Adults With Serious Mental Illness: A Report From the Field

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Davidson ◽  
M. Chinman ◽  
D. Sells ◽  
M. Rowe
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Peer Support ◽  
Serious Mental Illness

scholarly journals Cochrane Corner Summary of Review Titled: “Peer Support for People with Schizophrenia or Other Serious Mental Illness”

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Beverley Ewens ◽  
Amanda Barnard-Towell ◽  
Sheila Mortimer-Jones ◽  
Vivien Kemp ◽  
Amanda Cole
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Peer Support ◽  
Serious Mental Illness

scholarly journals The future of mental health care: peer-to-peer support and social media

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Naslund ◽  
K. A. Aschbrenner ◽  
L. A. Marsch ◽  
S. J. Bartels
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Peer Support ◽  
Serious Mental Illness ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Physical Wellbeing ◽  
Potential Risks

Aims:People with serious mental illness are increasingly turning to popular social media, including Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, to share their illness experiences or seek advice from others with similar health conditions. This emerging form of unsolicited communication among self-forming online communities of patients and individuals with diverse health concerns is referred to as peer-to-peer support. We offer a perspective on how online peer-to-peer connections among people with serious mental illness could advance efforts to promote mental and physical wellbeing in this group.Methods:In this commentary, we take the perspective that when an individual with serious mental illness decides to connect with similar others online it represents a critical point in their illness experience. We propose a conceptual model to illustrate how online peer-to-peer connections may afford opportunities for individuals with serious mental illness to challenge stigma, increase consumer activation and access online interventions for mental and physical wellbeing.Results:People with serious mental illness report benefits from interacting with peers online from greater social connectedness, feelings of group belonging and by sharing personal stories and strategies for coping with day-to-day challenges of living with a mental illness. Within online communities, individuals with serious mental illness could challenge stigma through personal empowerment and providing hope. By learning from peers online, these individuals may gain insight about important health care decisions, which could promote mental health care seeking behaviours. These individuals could also access interventions for mental and physical wellbeing delivered through social media that could incorporate mutual support between peers, help promote treatment engagement and reach a wider demographic. Unforeseen risks may include exposure to misleading information, facing hostile or derogatory comments from others, or feeling more uncertain about one's health condition. However, given the evidence to date, the benefits of online peer-to-peer support appear to outweigh the potential risks.Conclusion:Future research must explore these opportunities to support and empower people with serious mental illness through online peer networks while carefully considering potential risks that may arise from online peer-to-peer interactions. Efforts will also need to address methodological challenges in the form of evaluating interventions delivered through social media and collecting objective mental and physical health outcome measures online. A key challenge will be to determine whether skills learned from peers in online networks translate into tangible and meaningful improvements in recovery, employment, or mental and physical wellbeing in the offline world.

scholarly journals Certified Older Adult Peer Support Specialists' Use of Technology to Support Older Adults in the Community

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 128-129
Author(s):  
Karen Fortuna
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Physical Health ◽  
Peer Support ◽  
Older Adult ◽  
Serious Mental Illness ◽  
Text Messaging ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Middle Aged

Abstract Middle-aged and older adults with mental health conditions have a high likelihood of experiencing comorbid physical health conditions, premature nursing home admissions, and early death compared with the general population of middle-aged and older adults. An emerging workforce of certified older adult peer support specialists aged 50 years or above is one of the fastest growing mental health workforces and may be a suitable community-based workforce to simultaneously support the mental health, physical health, and aging needs of middle-aged and older adults with a serious mental illness. Older adult peer support specialists are people with a lived experience of aging into middle age and older adulthood with a mental health condition. This presentation will present three single-arm pilot studies examining how certified older adult peer support specialists’ incorporate technology, including text messaging, ecological momentary assessments, and smartphone applications into practice and clinical outcomes among older adults with serious mental illness.

scholarly journals Usability Testing of a Mobile Health Application for Self-Management of Serious Mental Illness in a Norwegian Community Mental Health Setting

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (16) ◽  
pp. 8667
Author(s):  
Marianne Storm ◽  
Hilde Marie Hunsbedt Fjellså ◽  
Jorunn N. Skjærpe ◽  
Amanda L. Myers ◽  
Stephen J. Bartels ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Community Mental Health ◽  
Peer Support ◽  
Serious Mental Illness ◽  
Task Analysis ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Mental Health Setting ◽  
Health Application

Background: For digital tools to have high usability and fit service users’ health needs and socio-environmental context, it is important to explore usability with end-users and identify facilitators and barriers to uptake. Objective: To conduct user testing of the smartphone health application, PeerTECH, in a Norwegian community mental health setting. Methods: Semistructured interviews and usability testing of the PeerTECH app using the Think-Aloud approach and task analysis among 11 people (three individuals with a serious mental illness, two peer support workers, and six mental health professionals). Results: Study participants perceived PeerTECH as a relevant tool to support self-management of their mental and physical health conditions, and they provided valuable feedback on existing features as well as suggestions for adaptions to the Norwegian context. The task analysis revealed that PeerTECH is easy to manage for service users and peer support workers. Conclusions: Adapting the PeerTECH smartphone app to the Norwegian context may be a viable and useful tool to support individuals with serious mental illness.

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