Sly Saint
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Koa Health | Landmark trial of NHS staff by King’s College London reveals promising solution to improve mental healthLondon, September 6, 2022: New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London has found that the mental health and wellbeing of frontline NHS healthcare workers can be supported and improved through the use of the ‘Koa Foundations’ mental health and wellbeing smartphone application.
The study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, found that use of the app by clinical and non-clinical health care workers in England was associated with a statistically significant improvement in mental health and wellbeing, as well as a decrease in the likelihood of experiencing insomnia.
Over a thousand healthcare workers across England were recruited from staff currently participating in NHS Check, the UK's largest survey of the mental health and wellbeing of NHS staff during Covid-19. Around half of the participants were provided access to the Koa Foundations app and were followed up with surveys at four and eight weeks of use.
The researchers found that use of the app was associated with a significant reduction in symptoms of behavioural or intellectual distress at each of the follow ups, with the effects most strongly seen in women, clinical staff, and younger participants.
Professor Simon Wessely, Regius Professor of Psychiatry at King’s IoPPN and the study’s senior author said, “The Covid-19 pandemic introduced a period of unparalleled pressure on frontline healthcare workers; pressure which arguably remains today. Many organisations have admirably sought to support staff during the pandemic through a range of initiatives, however, there has so far been a lack of evidence as to what works and for whom. Our study established that a smartphone based mental health support for health workers can be of help”.
also here Landmark trial of NHS staff reveals promising solution to improve mental health (kcl.ac.uk)
paper here
Multicentre, England-wide randomised controlled trial of the ‘Foundations’ smartphone application in improving mental health and well-being in a healthcare worker population | Request PDF (researchgate.net)