Nova Scotia psychiatrist seeing success with text-based mental health program
All three Maritime premiers will join their counterparts in a meeting Tuesday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss health-care funding. The provinces want more money from Ottawa to boost spending in all areas of health-care delivery.
Dr. Vincent Agyapong, the chief of psychiatry at Nova Scotia Health and Dalhousie University, is leading a study into a new text-messaging program to improve mental health for patients in the system.
Text4Support offers daily supportive text messages to patients receiving treatment for mental health and addiction issues.
“The text messages are actually tailored to the specific primary area of concern. So for example, if there is a patient that’s presenting primarily with depressive symptoms, they can opt-in to receive daily supportive text messages that are CBT-based and address their depressive symptoms,” Agyapong said during an interview with CTV Atlantic’s Todd Battis.
“We have some for psychosis, some for bipolar disorder, some for personality disorders, and some for general well-being as well.”
Text4Support is still being researched and not readily available to Nova Scotians, though Agyapong says its effectiveness has been seen during two randomized controlled trials for patients with depression in Dublin, Ireland, and in Fort McMurray, Alta.
“We achieved almost the exact same results where a patient received daily supportive text messages for the major depressive disorder diagnosis, actually did better in about 50 per cent improvement in their depressive symptoms compared to patients who did not receive intervention,” he said.
However, he adds that what works for one population may not necessarily work for another.
“I think it’s more trying to contextualize evidence of effectiveness for the Nova Scotian population so that we are not just taking evidence from Alberta or Dublin and just believing it’s going to work the same for the people of Nova Scotia.”
Agyapong says more than 60,000 people participated in the research study in the first year of the pandemic.
“Eighty-five per cent of over 14,000 people who completed a survey that were assisted with it actually reported they felt connected to a support system. And about 83 per cent reported that intervention helped improve their overall mental well-being.”
Agyapong believes “everybody” will benefit from the program.
“The Dublin study was with an in-patient population who have been discharged and the study in Fort McMurray was with an outpatient population, so everyone, regardless of your diagnosis, there’s actually something in there for you.”
While it is a virtual program, Agyapong says Text4Support isn’t intended to replace the need for face-to-face treatment -- it actually complements it.
“Not just here in Nova Scotia, all around the world, if you can have an intervention that’s first-line, and certainly even if you have 20 per cent of the population that are benefitting to the extent that their symptoms either improve, does not get worse, or they no longer require treatment with formal mental health services, it makes the face-to-face intervention more readily available for those who actually need it,” he says.
“So for example, if you take intake services, and they have a hundred people calling today that they want to see a mental health therapist, it’s not possible for any of them to see anybody tomorrow or the next day … but you can enroll all 100 of them in this program to begin to receive some level of support until somebody can connect with them face-to-face.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Spectacular aurora light show to be seen across Canada Friday night
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Town of Fort Nelson, B.C., ordered to evacuate due to wildfire
The entire town of Fort Nelson, B.C., as well as the nearby Fort Nelson First Nation, has been ordered to evacuate due to an out-of-control wildfire.
Bouchard lifts Edmonton Oilers to 4-3 overtime win over Canucks in Game 2
Evan Bouchard scored 5:38 into overtime and the Edmonton Oilers bounced back for a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Friday.
McGill University seeks emergency injunction to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment
McGill University has filed a request for an injunction to have the pro-Palestinian encampment removed from its campus.
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
Video shows naked raccoon catching B.C. family by surprise
When Marvin Henschel spotted a strange and hairless creature wandering through a front lawn in B.C.'s Lower Mainland, he could barely believe his eyes.
Barron Trump declines to serve as an RNC delegate
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's youngest son, Barron Trump, has declined to serve as a delegate at this summer’s Republican National Convention, according to a senior Trump campaign adviser and a statement from Melania Trump's office.
Out-of-control wildfire prompts evacuation alert for Fort McMurray, Saprae Creek Estates Friday night
An evacuation alert was issued for two Wood Buffalo communities Friday night, as crews battled an out-of-control wildfire near Fort McMurray.