PEERS Plus mHealth Enhanced Peer Support (Peers plus)

PEERS Plus - mHealth Enhanced Peer Support to Reduce Depression Among Low-income and Ethnic Minority Older Adults

The goal of this intervention study is to design and learn whether peer support that is delivered through video chats and texts can decrease depression among older adults. Participants will be assigned to a peer support program where they will receive 8 video chats with a peer mentor who provide social support and supportive texts over 8 weeks.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depression in Old Age
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Peers plus

Detailed Description

PEERS plus is a psychosocial intervention being developed to reduce depression among older adults. In this intervention peer mentors who are also 50 years of age and older and who have experiential knowledge of depression provide depression care. Older adults with depression will be recruited and assigned to the peer support program. This will consist of 8 weekly peer mentor - older adult video chats that provide emotional support and sharing of self-care skills for depression. Supportive texts will be sent on a weekly basis to older adults by peer mentors. These texts will provide encouragement, affirmations and information about mental health resources. Peer mentors are trained and supervised by a mental health professional during the 8 week period. We will assess at baseline, post study and 3 months after the intervention.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 34
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02114
      • Massachusetts General Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 46 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. 50 years and older
2. PHQ-9 score > 5,
3. on the same antidepressant dose for at least 3 months
4. if receiving psychotherapy, frequency is at most once a month
5. able to communicate in English
6. able to give informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. meet diagnostic criteria for mania or hypomania
2. active suicidal ideation
3. meet diagnostic criteria for psychotic syndrome
4. meet diagnostic criteria for substance abuse or dependence
5. cognitive impairment, with a score on the Short Blessed Test > 9.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Other: Peer support; Peer mentors who have experienced depression provide social support through video chats and texts for 8 weeks.	Behavioral: Peers plus; Peer support intervention in which peer mentors who have experiential knowledge of depression deliver social support through video chats and texts to older adults with depression.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Intervention Feasibility	Proportion of the participants who complete 80% of their weekly meetings with the peer coach.	18 months

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Patient Health Questionnaire-9	Depression will be assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). The PHQ-9 score is summed from 9 items in the questionnaire, and scores range from 0 to 27. A higher score indicates a worse outcome in depression. A score of 5 indicates mild depressive symptoms, 10 - 14 indicates moderate depression, 15-19 indicates moderately severe depression, and 20-27 indicates severe depression.	We assessed PHQ-9 scores as changes across three timepoints: baseline, post study and 3 month follow up. We ran a mixed-effects longitudinal model to examine how PHQ-9 scores changed over 5 months (8 week intervention and 3 month follow up).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital
• Collaborators: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 15, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 17, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): January 17, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 3, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 3, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): November 10, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): October 8, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 22, 2025
• Last Verified: September 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Depression
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2022P001984

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No