Peer-Led, Remote Intervention to Improve Mental Health Outcomes Using a Holistic, Spirituality-Based Approach: Results from a Pilot Study

Abstract

In the United States, Black communities face a complex mental health burden, with growing attention on addressing these disparities through the lens of holistic wellbeing. Given the dearth of research on faith-based interventions focused on mental health through the lens of holistic wellbeing, this study evaluates the impact of a spirituality-based, peer-led one-group pre-test post-test pilot intervention in a sample of Black individuals in the Bronx, New York City. The eight-session creating healthy culture curriculum, focused on improving mental health and spiritual wellbeing, was collaboratively developed through community partnerships. Post-intervention results indicated significantly reduced odds of moderate to severe depression (AOR:0.20), and increased sense of community, social support, role of religion in health, flourishing, and reduced trouble sleeping. In-depth interviews with participants further highlighted the interconnected role between psychosocial and mental health indicators. Findings support importance of holistically developing, implementing, and evaluating spirituality-based mental health interventions in Black communities.

A Narrative Review of Peer-Led Positive Psychology Interventions: Current Evidence, Potential, and Future Directions

“…Over the last decade, a number of peer-led PPIs have been implemented and evaluated in countries such as the United Kingdom [44,45], New Zealand [46], and the United States of America [47][48][49][50] and administered across domains such as educational institutions [46][47][48][49], healthcare settings [45,47], and the wider community [44,49]. Participants included adolescents [48] and adults [44][45][46][47]49,50]. Within these studies, peer support has been characterised in various ways.…”

“…Within these studies, peer support has been characterised in various ways. They included 'champions' or elected peer leaders, i.e., people who are part of the same workplace or student cohort volunteering their time to support others [46,47,49,50], people with lived experience in the intervention target outcome [45,48], or a group of people with shared characteristics, which receives support facilitation from a non-professional [44]. Peer-led PPIs also varied in their duration, ranging from a few weeks [44,45,48] to a year [50].…”

“…Past research indicates that peer-led PPIs have led to a broad range of positive outcomes. These include increased resilience [44,[46][47][48], happiness [47], optimism [49], forgiveness [49], spirituality [49], gratitude [45], mindfulness [45], positivity [45], empathy [50], hope [45], life satisfaction [48], personal recovery [48], mental health [46], and self-efficacy [50]. In terms of secondary outcomes, studies also report reductions in stress and burnout [47,49], depressive symptoms [46,48], and anxiety [46,49].…”

“…These include increased resilience [44,[46][47][48], happiness [47], optimism [49], forgiveness [49], spirituality [49], gratitude [45], mindfulness [45], positivity [45], empathy [50], hope [45], life satisfaction [48], personal recovery [48], mental health [46], and self-efficacy [50]. In terms of secondary outcomes, studies also report reductions in stress and burnout [47,49], depressive symptoms [46,48], and anxiety [46,49]. However, the methodological quality across studies to date is relatively low, with most studies having employed a quasi-experimental design [44,45,[47][48][49].…”

“…In terms of secondary outcomes, studies also report reductions in stress and burnout [47,49], depressive symptoms [46,48], and anxiety [46,49]. However, the methodological quality across studies to date is relatively low, with most studies having employed a quasi-experimental design [44,45,[47][48][49]. This is discussed in further detail below.…”