PHONE PAL
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Phone pal – volunteering via smart-phone for people with psychosis
IRAS ID
244496
Contact name
Mariana Pinto da Costa
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen Mary University of London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
TBC, Awaiting approval from trials registration
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
People with psychosis are commonly socially isolated, both due to their own condition, but also due to the stigma towards them. They can experience attachment insecurities, which can threaten their recovery and usually do little physical exercise. In fact, social isolation, sedentary lifestyles and the nature and qualify of attachments to others are linked with worse mental and physical illnesses.
Although several volunteering schemes exist already in the community, that could potentially help patients with these issues, the majority expects in person meetings, requiring a greater effort of availability and commitment from participants, which may be difficult for them to fulfill.
There is therefore a need for flexible, easily accessible support for people with psychosis.
The Phone pal has been designed to enable patients to use a smart-phone to communicate with a volunteer, using the different tools a smart-phone has (send text, WhatsApp and Facebook messages, make phone and video calls, and send e-mails) conducting informal conversations, at least once per week, for a duration of up to 12 weeks. Each pair (patient and volunteer) will be randomly matched before they start the study, and all volunteers will receive individual training by a psychiatrist, to help them with clarifying their role in this study.
This study aims to find out the acceptability and the feasibility of remote volunteering over a smart-phone for people with psychosis, exploring its potential impact in the quality of life, physical activity and self-esteem of both participants (patients and volunteers). For patients we will also measure their attachments, social contacts and symptoms, and in volunteers we will also evaluate their attitudes towards patients, before they start the study and at the end. Equally, at the end of the study we will interview participants for a more detailed feedback of their experience with the Phone pal.REC name
East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/EE/0196
Date of REC Opinion
22 Aug 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion