A 12-week Feasibility Trial of a Mental Health Breakfast Show Wakey

Mental health conditions are a considerable burden for patients and health services and have been shown to have social patterning in severity and incidence. Children and adults living in the lowest 20% income bracket are two to three times more likely to develop a mental health condition than those people living in the top 20% bracket. Unemployment, working in jobs with low pay and insecure work have been found to be detrimental to mental health. Mental health services are struggling to cope with demands on services, and unequal access to support is further exacerbating health inequalities.

Digital interventions have been proposed as a solution to address the high demand for mental health support in the context of the crisis in healthcare services. These interventions provide the potential to reduce health disparities, by providing personalised low-cost infinitely reusable resource that can increase access to health interventions. However, these interventions may increase inequity, where access and usability for disadvantaged groups remain barriers. To ensure health inequalities are not further exacerbated, there is a need to develop digital interventions that are appealing and accessible those from lower socioeconomic groups. These are social groups that currently look to entertainment to regulate difficult emotions and for education.

An initial pilot of the 9-minute show was trialled in the United Kingdom with a lower socio-economic group and was well received. The app was advertised through the companies that partner with Lost In TV Audience Services, who has a database of 450,000 people. In the initial pilot 43,000 people opened the email about the app. The live morning breakfast show that ran for two weeks was used by 450 participants. The findings were that 50% watched all 10 shows, 65% said that would download the app "today", 70% said it was easier to get out of bed, 53% saw an increase in life satisfaction, and 67% reported an increase in self-efficacy.

The primary objectives of the feasibility study are:

• To assess how many people download the app in the target population
• To assess participant's engagement with the app over the 12-week trial period

The secondary objectives are:

• To explore efficacy data on Office for National Statistics well-being outcomes, sleep and self-efficacy outcomes and to see if there are any changes throughout the trial
• To explore, quantitatively and qualitatively, participants' experiences of using Wakey!