Kooth Digital Health, London, UK.
Kooth Digital Health, London, UK.
Lancet. 2022 Nov;400 Suppl 1:S20. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02230-9. Epub 2022 Nov 24.
Public use of digital mental health technologies has informed several studies focusing on patterns of engagement within user-led digital support systems. General engagement with these services has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to explore how user engagement patterns with these platforms changed during the pandemic.
In this cohort study, we included individuals aged 14-25 years who signed up to the online mental health platform Kooth in the UK before the pandemic (May 1, 2019 to March 10, 2020) and during the pandemic (March 11, 2020 to Oct 31, 2021). Routinely collected usage data were assessed for consenting users who returned to Kooth at least once after sign-up. We used logistic regression to compare service component usage and overall engagement across cohorts.
5048 individuals (mean sign-ups per day 9·0 [12·0]) were included in the pre-pandemic cohort and 13 841 (mean sign-ups per day 11·5 [13·9]) in the pandemic cohort, representing a significant increase in sign-ups per day during the pandemic compared with the pre-pandemic period (Welch's t-test p=0·0001). Compared with users pre-pandemic, users during the pandemic were less likely to have a drop-in chat with a practitioner (odds ratio [OR] 0·50 [95% CI 0·47-0·54], p<0·0001) but were more likely to journal (1·92 [1·77-2·07], p<0·0001) and comment on existing content (1·10 [1·03-1·18], p=0·008). Users who signed up to Kooth during the pandemic and requested a chat with a practitioner (7816 [56·5%] of 13 841 users) were also less likely to receive a chat than users who requested a chat pre-pandemic (3791 [75·1%] of 5048 users; OR 0·68 [0·63-0·74], p<0·0001).
During the COVID-19 pandemic, people with the ability and resources to access digital mental health support were diverted from face-to-face services to digital mental health services. This change might have resulted in an unmet need for drop-in practitioner chats, with users probably resorting to asynchronous support through community interaction or journaling.
Kooth Digital Health.
公众对数字心理健康技术的使用为多项关注用户主导的数字支持系统内参与模式的研究提供了信息。自 COVID-19 大流行开始以来，这些服务的总体参与度有所增加。然而，据我们所知，这是第一项探索这些平台的用户参与模式在大流行期间如何变化的研究。
在这项队列研究中，我们纳入了在英国的在线心理健康平台 Kooth 注册的 14-25 岁人群，时间分别为大流行前（2019 年 5 月 1 日至 2020 年 3 月 10 日）和大流行期间（2020 年 3 月 11 日至 2021 年 10 月 31 日）。我们使用逻辑回归比较了在注册后至少返回 Kooth 一次的同意用户的服务组件使用情况和整体参与度。
共有 5048 名（平均每天注册人数为 9.0[12.0]）个体被纳入大流行前队列，13841 名（平均每天注册人数为 11.5[13.9]）个体被纳入大流行队列，与大流行前相比，大流行期间的注册人数每天显著增加（Welch's t 检验 p=0.0001）。与大流行前的用户相比，大流行期间的用户更不可能与从业者进行即时聊天（比值比 [OR] 0.50[0.47-0.54]，p<0.0001），但更有可能写日记（1.92[1.77-2.07]，p<0.0001）和评论现有内容（1.10[1.03-1.18]，p=0.008）。在大流行期间注册并请求与从业者聊天的用户（13841 名用户中的 7816 名[56.5%]）收到聊天的可能性也低于大流行前请求聊天的用户（5048 名用户中的 3791 名[75.1%]；OR 0.68[0.63-0.74]，p<0.0001）。
在 COVID-19 大流行期间，有能力和资源获得数字心理健康支持的人从面对面服务转向数字心理健康服务。这种变化可能导致即时联系从业者的需求未得到满足，用户可能会通过社区互动或写日记寻求异步支持。
在 COVID-19 大流行期间，数字心理健康服务的使用有所增加，但这可能导致即时联系从业者的需求未得到满足。需要进一步研究以了解这种模式变化对服务利用和患者结果的影响。
Kooth Digital Health。
