Augmenting Evidence-Based Care With a Texting Mobile Interventionist: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and clinical utility of training intensive psychiatric community care team members to serve as "mobile interventionists" who engage patients in recovery-oriented texting exchanges.


METHODS
A 3-month pilot randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare the mobile interventionist approach as an add-on to assertive community treatment (ACT) versus ACT alone. Participants were 49 individuals with serious mental illness (62% with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder, 24% with bipolar disorder, and 14% with depression). Clinical outcomes were evaluated at baseline, posttreatment, and 6-month follow-up, and satisfaction was evaluated posttreatment.


RESULTS
The intervention appeared feasible (95% of participants assigned to the mobile interventionist arm initiated the intervention, texting on 69% of possible days and averaging four messages per day), acceptable (91% reported satisfaction), and safe (no adverse events reported). Exploratory posttreatment clinical effect estimations suggested greater reductions in the severity of paranoid thoughts (Cohen's d=-0.61) and depression (d=-0.59) and improved illness management (d=0.31) and recovery (d=0.23) in the mobile interventionist group.


CONCLUSIONS
Augmentation of care with a texting mobile interventionist proved to be feasible, acceptable, safe, and clinically promising. The findings are encouraging given the relative ease of training practitioners to serve as mobile interventionists, the low burden placed on patients and practitioners, and the simplicity of the technology. The technical resources are widely accessible to patients and practitioners, boding well for potential intervention scalability. When pandemics such as COVID-19 block the possibility of in-person patient-provider contact, evidence-based texting interventions can serve a crucial role in supporting continuity of care.
['Ben-Zeev|Dror|D|', 'Buck|Benjamin|B|', 'Meller|Suzanne|S|', 'Hudenko|William J|WJ|', 'Hallgren|Kevin A|KA|']
D000328:Adult D000086382:COVID-19 D003156:Community Mental Health Services D055317:Evidence-Based Practice D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D001523:Mental Disorders D028642:Mentally Ill Persons D010865:Pilot Projects D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales D000086402:SARS-CoV-2 D017216:Telemedicine D060145:Text Messaging D016896:Treatment Outcome
assertive community treatment schizophrenia bipolar disorder depression digital interventions mHealth