Research Opportunity: Online peer support in long-term conditions

The CommonGround Research team at King’s College London (commonground@kcl.ac.uk)  are looking for people to take part in their research.  

 What is the research?  

A team at King’s College London has developed a new online peer support platform in collaboration with people living with long-term physical health conditions. The peer support platform aims to allow people living with a variety of long-term physical health conditions to anonymously share knowledge and experiences, support one another, and manage their mental wellbeing. King’s College London is interested in finding out what people think about the new intervention, such as what they like and dislike. They also want to compare the new peer support platform to the generic NHS Mental Health resources that are currently available online. Therefore, they are running a research trial where some people will have access to the new peer support platform for three months, and some people will be signposted to the NHS resources for three months. Participants will be asked to fill out questionnaires at the beginning, middle, and end of the research. Some participants will also be invited to do a one-to-one interview about their experiences and opinions of the intervention.  

 Who can participate?  

King’s College London is inviting adults (aged over 18 years) who have internet access and are living with any long-term physical health condition(s) to take part. Unfortunately, anyone who has a diagnosis of a severe mental illness (bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and/or psychosis) and/or a diagnosis of dementia is unable to take part, as the new intervention is targeted at people who are sometimes experiencing depressive symptoms or low mood. The intervention is exclusively for people with diagnosed long-term conditions, regardless of their specific condition. This means that anyone with a diagnosed LTC could take part, ranging from diabetes to COPD, or arthritis to endometriosis. Please do contact the research team directly if you have any specific queries about whether you may be suitable to take part via their e-mail commonground@kcl.ac.uk 

How do I sign up?  

If you are interested in the research, you can read more information by accessing the following link: https://bit.ly/commongroundresearch , You can then consent to participate in the research through the same link and answer some questions that help the research team understand if you are suitable for their research. If you have any questions or wish to discuss anything with the research team, do not hesitate to contact them via email at commonground@kcl.ac.uk