The effects of the Digital Buddy programme for promoting the mental health of older people: A multi-centre, cluster randomized controlled trial (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Mental health symptoms in older people are often associated with social factors, such as social isolation. Digital technologies offer the potential to promote mental health by improving older people’s digital and mental health literacy and enhancing social connectedness. However, the adoption of digital technologies by older people is known to be lower compared with the younger generation. This makes intergenerational interventions a promising medium to promote the mental health of older people through intergenerational support. Nonetheless, the effects of interventions employing digital and mental health literacy training through intergenerational support (i.e., the Digital Buddy programme) on the mental health of older people remain unclear. OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the effects of the Digital Buddy programme on the mental health of older people. METHODS This study employed a multi-centre, cluster-randomised, two-parallel-group, controlled trial design with a 1:1 group allocation ratio. People aged ≥ 60 years with no diagnosed mental illnesses were eligible for the study. In the intervention group, participants joined a series of training sessions totalling 23 hours, conducted by young volunteers in groups over the first two months, using teaching materials available on a dedicated website and a smartphone app. The content included digital skills and mental health knowledge. The young volunteers continued to tele-coach the participants until the end of the intervention, which lasted six months. In the control group, participants received only usual care. Outcomes were measured at both baseline (T0) and one-week post-intervention (T1), including mental well-being, depressive symptoms, health-related quality of life, self-efficacy, and perceived social support. Generalised estimating equations (GEE) were used to test the hypotheses. RESULTS A total of 310 participants from 15 clusters entered the study, with each group containing 155 participants. The WHO-5 (mean difference = 7.0, P < .001) and PHQ-9 scores (mean difference = 0.9, P = .02) of the participants in the intervention group significantly improved after the completion of the intervention. However, the changes in the WHO-5 and PHQ-9 scores in the control group were not statistically significant. Likewise, the interaction effects of group and time on the two outcomes were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS The Digital Buddy programme improved the participants’ mental well-being and reduced their depressive symptoms. However, its effects are not significantly greater than those observed in the control group. Digital and mental health literacy training coupled with intergenerational support should be adopted as public policy to promote the mental health of older people in community settings. Future studies should devise measures to enhance its effects. CLINICALTRIAL This trial has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05553730) on 23 September 2022, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05553730, and all items come from the World Health Organization Trial Registration Data Set. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-023-07130-5