The development and research testing of digital mental health therapy homework utilising the Dr Julian Platform to improve compliance of homework and outcomes of therapy

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The World Health Organisation has highlighted a painful truth that one in eight people live with a mental disorder, with prevalence increasing.Dr Julian Medical Group's online platform uses video and text to link trained therapists with patients experiencing mental ill health such as depression and anxiety. We support 25 NHS organisations, providing c. 3,000 therapy sessions each month and growing fast.Digital approaches are essential to increase the accessibility of talking therapies at a time of growing demand. Post-Covid lockdowns, demand has increased, with c. 1.6m people on NHS IAPT waiting lists (Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies). However, the number of trained therapists has not increased at the same rate.IAPT is characterised by significant geographical variations in outcomes, with the average recovery rate c. 50%. Recovery via the Dr Julian platform is c.57%, but we have identified a way to significantly improve recovery and speed up the therapy process.The projectOur therapists set each patient homework, but engagement is low, with c.40% of people completing it. A major reason for this is because homework is emailed, and patients need access to a printer to complete it on paperResearch indicates that patients who engage with the entire therapeutic process have a better chance of recovery, and recover quicker. Research also shows that digital tools improve engagement.No digital homework tools currently exist on any online mental health platform, so we will digitise the homework tools and research their effectiveness. We want to evidence if they:* Improve engagement* Improve outcomes, helping patients to recover quicker* Reduce the number of therapy sessions needed* Save the NHS moneyThe tools are:* Behavioural Activation Scheduling, for severe depression* Thought Records Sheet, to support cognitive behavioural therapy* Worry Recognition, to treat General Anxiety Disorder* Behavioural Experiment, to treat anxiety disordersWe will design, build, validate, test, deploy and evaluate these new digital tools with 1000 NHS patients. 500 in the test group (digital homework + standard homework) and 500 in the control group (standard homework only). Unity Insights will also conduct a health economic evaluation to identify possible direct and indirect cost savings to the NHS and society more broadly.If the outcomes are positive, we will integrate the tools to enhance our own platform, but also make them available as stand alone products that can be bolted on to improve other platforms and services.