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Published Online: 16 October 2019

Perspectives on Mobile Health Versus Clinic-Based Group Interventions for People With Serious Mental Illnesses: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Objective:

This study built on research comparing a mobile health intervention (FOCUS) and a clinic-based intervention (Wellness Recovery Action Planning [WRAP]) for self-management of serious mental illnesses. Qualitative interviews were conducted to provide additional insight into engagement and satisfaction and augment understanding of clinical outcomes.

Methods:

Individuals (N=31) with serious mental illness participating in a comparative effectiveness trial were interviewed. Interviewees were sampled purposively for a range of engagement with the interventions. Interviews inquired into experiences with the interventions and were 45–60 minutes long, audio recorded, and transcribed. Researchers developed qualitative codes based on the research aims, interview domains, and inductively derived categories, aggregating data by code and producing analytic memos to distill main findings.

Results:

Both FOCUS and WRAP participants described gaining new information about mental illness and new skills for managing symptoms. FOCUS participants emphasized the intervention’s accessibility, and WRAP participants highlighted the importance of community and shared experiences. FOCUS participants commenced treatment at higher rates, compared with WRAP participants, which may have been related to the strongly negative views of group interventions expressed by some WRAP participants. FOCUS was generally enthusiastically received. The comparable clinical outcomes of the interventions were reflected in narratives detailing the positive impact of the interventions.

Conclusions:

Interviews provided evidence that mobile health and clinic-based illness self-management interventions were well received and offered opportunities to learn new illness management skills. Findings support expanding the range of services and supports for persons with serious mental illness to include traditional and technology-based approaches.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Psychiatric Services
Go to Psychiatric Services
Psychiatric Services
Pages: 49 - 56
PubMed: 31615368

History

Received: 26 February 2019
Revision received: 18 June 2019
Accepted: 29 July 2019
Published online: 16 October 2019
Published in print: January 01, 2020

Keywords

  1. Community mental health services
  2. Research/service delivery
  3. Serious mental illness
  4. Illness self-management
  5. Mobile health
  6. Qualitative research

Authors

Details

Elizabeth Carpenter-Song, Ph.D. [email protected]
Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire (Carpenter-Song); Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago (Jonathan); Behavioral Research in Technology and Engineering (BRiTE) Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle (Brian, Ben-Zeev).
Geneva Jonathan, B.A.
Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire (Carpenter-Song); Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago (Jonathan); Behavioral Research in Technology and Engineering (BRiTE) Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle (Brian, Ben-Zeev).
Rachel Brian, M.P.H.
Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire (Carpenter-Song); Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago (Jonathan); Behavioral Research in Technology and Engineering (BRiTE) Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle (Brian, Ben-Zeev).
Dror Ben-Zeev, Ph.D.
Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire (Carpenter-Song); Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago (Jonathan); Behavioral Research in Technology and Engineering (BRiTE) Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle (Brian, Ben-Zeev).

Notes

Send correspondence to Dr. Carpenter-Song ([email protected]).

Competing Interests

Dr. Ben-Zeev has a financial interest in the FOCUS technology described in this article. He reports serving as a consultant for Equility and has an intervention content licensing agreement with Pear Therapeutics. The other authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Funding Information

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institutehttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100006093: PCORI Research Award CER-1403-11403
Research reported in this article was supported by research award CER-1403-11403 from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The views and statements in this article are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of PCORI, its Board of Governors, or Methodology Committee. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of staff and service recipients at Thresholds, Chicago.

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