JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Social distancing and lockdown measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the delivery of mental health care from in-person to remote services supported through the use of technologies. When the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures were instituted, wide scale necessity for remote mental health care emerged not only for professional clinicians, such as psychiatrists, psychologist, and social workers, but also certified peer support specialists. Understanding the landscape of digital peer support services can facilitate community-based support services to assist patients’ in coping with mental health symptoms between clinical encounters with licensed professionals.

Objective:

The objective of this cross-sectional study, is to describe the landscape of digital peer support within the United States.

Methods:

A national online survey was developed with input from certified peer specialists and completed by peer support specialists.

Results:

The majority of certified peer support specialists were trained in digital peer support. Most certified peer support specialists services were delivered through phone calls (62.1%), videoconference (54.6%), text (42%), video-conference based services (64.5%), smartphone-based communication (53%), smartphone applications (15.3%) and social media (47%). Some emerging digital peer support services were offered through virtual reality (2.4%) and video games (1.3%). Of the smartphone applications mentioned, 3% targeted connection making, 4% targeted alcohol or cigarette use, and 5% targeted meditation and mindfulness.

Conclusions:

The majority of certified peer support specialists were trained in digital peer support, and the majority of services were delivered via telephone calls, videoconference-based services, and text messages. However, certified peer specialists offered peer support through smartphones and social media as well as virtual reality and video games. Virtual reality and video games may represent emerging technologies to develop and deliver community-based supports. The majority of certified peer support specialists use popular, publicly available technologies, rather than specific evidence-based mental health technologies. Using readily available, popular technology between clinical encounters may increase the uptake of support service between encounters and support delivery of digital peer support.