Assessing the effectiveness of a digital platform to support the mental health of healthcare workers in the response and recovery phases of COVID-19

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The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has radically changed the delivery of healthcare and significantly impacted the mental health of individuals and communities. The effect upon the mental health of the healthcare workforce has been particularly strained throughout the various phases of the pandemic. This impact is predicted to be chronic and pervasive for all and particularly for disproportionately affected underrepresented minority and female populations. There is a critical need to develop and test scalable digital approaches which can identify, address and support the well-being of healthcare workers (HCW) over time and beyond the pandemic. HCWs are busy and there is stigma associated with accessing mental health support. We seek to leverage digital platforms to facilitate ease of access to well-being focused resources and direct connection to mental health providers through real time support using a stepped model of care. During the acute phase of the pandemic, our team developed and implemented Penn Cobalt across the Penn Medicine health system. Cobalt is a web and text-message based platform which allows HCWs to complete contextual surveys and evidence-based assessments remotely on their own time. Individuals are then directed to tailored well-being resources and appropriate individual or group mental healthcare. Across Penn Medicine, and in just 7 months, Cobalt has had 18,300 unique users and has identified 111 HCWs reporting thoughts of self-harm and immediately connected those individuals with a mental health provider for support and evaluation. While Cobalt has had sustained high engagement and increased the health system's ability to identify high-risk individuals, it requires a motivated user. Individuals must “pull” care toward them and overcome multiple barriers ranging from identifying the need for mental health support, to making an appointment, and attending the appointment. We seek to evaluate whether a “pushed” model of care (Cobalt+), which proactively engages individuals, can improve individual mental health, satisfaction with access, and decrease factors which affect workforce productivity (e.g. absenteeism). The specific aims will evaluate, through a randomized controlled trial, the effectiveness of Cobalt+ on HCW depression/anxiety (primary outcome) compared with Cobalt (usual care). Secondary outcomes will include well-being, satisfaction with access to care, and measures of work productivity. Heterogeneous treatment effects will be explored for race and gender. Additionally, we will seek to better understand perceptions of access to mental health care and the effectiveness of Cobalt compared with Cobalt among HCWs through semi-structured qualitative interviews. Overall, this project seeks to address a significant gap and enhance HCW access and receipt of mental health and well-being focused resources and care. Our intent is that this will enable a proactive culture of well-being and mental health support for the healthcare workforce during the multiple phases of the pandemic. Our approach evaluates existing digital models which can be executed in a timely fashion and rapidly scaled for use across other health systems.