Our Second Study! Adjusting an Available Online Peer Support Platform in a Program to Supplement the Treatment of Perinatal Depression and Anxiety
Great news! Our second study was recently published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research! You can find the full study here. Special shout out to our listeners that supported the members struggling with Perintatal Depresion and a very big shout out to @Heather for being such a great research coordinator!
We have another one that was also recently accepted, but not published yet. I'll share the details with you as soon as I can.
Here is the abstract:
ABSTRACT
Background: Perinatal depression and anxiety are common and debilitating conditions. Novel, cost effective services could improve the uptake and the impact of mental health resources among women who suffer from these conditions. E-mental health products are one example of such services. Many publically available e-mental health products exist, but these products lack validation and are not designed to be integrated into existing health care settings.
Objective: The objective of the study was to present a program to use 7 Cups of Tea (7Cups), an available technological platform that provides online peer (ie, listener) based emotional support, to supplement treatment for women experiencing perinatal depression or anxiety and to summarize patients feedback on the resultant program.
Methods: This study consisted of two stages. First, five clinicians specializing in the treatment of perinatal mood disorders received an overview of 7Cups. They provided feedback on the 7Cups platform and ways it could complement the existing treatment efforts to inform further adjustments. In the second stage, nine women with perinatal depression or anxiety used the platform for a single session and provided feedback.
Results: In response to clinicians feedback, guidelines for referring patients to use 7Cups as a supplement for treatment were created, and a training program for listeners was developed. Patients found the platform usable and useful and their attitudes toward the trained listeners were positive. Overall, patients noted a need for support outside the scheduled therapy time and believed that freely available online emotional support could help meet this need. Most patients were interested in receiving support from first time mothers and those who suffered in the past from perinatal mood disorders.
Conclusions: The study results highlight the use of 7Cups as a tool to introduce accessible and available support into existing treatment for women who suffer from perinatal mood disorders. Further research should focus on the benefits accrued from such a service. However, this article highlights how a publicly available eHealth product can be leveraged to create new services in a health care setting.
@GlenM
This is very exciting! I am going to read the full article this weekend!
Very interesting! Was the study only on woman though?
@Loveskye - Yup! This one was a study on mothers who were receiving treatment for perinatal mood disorders.
Well done @Heather excellent, when can we expect other research studies such as this, that we can participate in? :-)
Lucy2
@lucy2 - We're currently running the Schizophrenia study, which I'm aware that you already know about :) At some point we will also be running a similar study for those with depression, though I'm not sure on dates for that just yet.
@Heather
Such a worthwhile and important study
Glad to learn it was successful!
@GlenM thank you for sharing the study. I read the full study and found it to be of interest in how I can be a better listener (under a different account). To me it is not only an affirmation of the benefits of 7cups but also an illumination of what the future of mental health and emotional support could be.
I imagine you have already tried to incorporate suggestions in the study into the 7cups platform. The idea that was stressed several times was that 7cups was emotional support. I think that hits home with me more than saying do not give advice. In some form I think excerpts of the article would be helpful training elements in some level of user development.
@GlenM, congratulations to the entire team! Proud to be part of 7 cups!
That's really neat. 7 cup really came a long way!
Congrats to the 7 Cups team! I'm so glad to be part of such a positive, supportive community! :)
This makes me proud of being part of this community. Congrats, this is amazing and shows how much good we can do just by Listening and treating people with emotional support and kindness! 
Glenn,
Thank you for sharing! I am proud to be a Listener here and it's exciting news and opportunities like this that let me know that Seven Cups is a bold, innovative, and cutting-edge environment that makes the world a better place! I'm looking forward to reading the article this weekend.
Woohoo! This is really exciting stuff...I'm going to go dive into reading mode soon to read and digest this study fully. Special thanks to @Heather for helping this study become a reality :)
