In England, there is limited support for people living with long-term physical health conditions to help them manage their mental well-being.

King's College London have created an online peer support platform with educational self-help resources. The platform is exclusively for people with long-term conditions, regardless of their specific condition, meaning that all diagnoses are welcome, from Crohn’s and colitis to COPD, or arthritis to endometriosis.

The research aims to investigate what people think about the new platform, including what they like and dislike. They also want to compare the new platform to the generic NHS “Mental Health” webpage resources that healthcare professionals currently signpost to.

They are aiming to recruit between 100-200 people for their study, who will be randomly allocated to either access the new peer support platform or form a control group. There will also be a third group who are part of a community engagement study who will also be given access to the new peer support platform. If you choose to participate, you will be told which group you are part of and provided with further information at that time. 

From signing-up to the end of the study, everything is done remotely via any of your devices that are connected to the internet. Researchers expect that total length of involvement in their study is 7-9 months, dependent on how many more people they have to recruit after you sign-up, and if you take part in the optional post-study interviews.

If you take part, the first questionnaire will assess whether you are suitable for the research. There might then be some time between when you answer these questions and when they are ready to start the trial, as they need to recruit enough people so that the online community is large enough for group discussions to form.

By participating you are helping us develop an intervention that aims to improve the lives of people living with long-term conditions. In order to get interventions that might help people manage their mental wellbeing and prevent depression developing, evidence must be gathered to prove that they are effective – this project is one of the first steps.

If you are interested in taking part, or would like more information about the study, please complete the form below:

By entering your details, you are not committing to take part, but you will be redirected automatically to the survey webpage. Taking part is completely voluntary and you can withdraw at any time.