CoAct for Mental Health
Pilot of the CoAct H2020 EU project. January 2020 – December 2022.
CoAct investigates the social support networks in mental health, which include social interactions with close family, friends, workmates, neighbours, etc. People experiencing mental health problems and their families are placed at the centre, as Co-Researchers. Their personal, lived experiences related to social support networks are shared through a chatbot, that invites all citizens to actively participate in the research.
Photo: Sara López
CoAct for Mental Health is a citizen science project in which people experiencing mental health problems and their families are placed at the centre. The project is aligned with World Health Organisation demands for enhancing community-based approaches in mental health services. The participation of people with lived experience of mental health problems is key to transform mental health worldwide.
32 people with mental health problems and family members have become Co-Researchers and have co-designed the first citizen science chatbot. The CoActuem per la Salut Mental (CoAct for Mental Health) Telegram Chatbot has shared hundreds of microstories written by the Co-Researchers. The microstories are mental health first-hand experiences on social interactions with close family, friends, workmates, neighbours, etc.
The aim of the chatbot is to engage a wider public and learn about the chatbot participants’ feedback. The chatbot has facilitated the continuous collection of responses from hundreds of participants over several years, in a private and safe space. The participants were contributing to data collection that explores social support networks in mental health. These networks are grounded on social interactions, and they facilitate recovery processes, improve the quality of life and act against social exclusion.
Face-to-face sessions with Co-Researchers were designed to interpret the data from the chatbot. During a final assembly with a wide mental health community, 14 recommendations were delivered to high-level local and regional representatives, and they were published in the form of European and local policy briefs. The project is framed within a citizen social science defined as participatory scientific research co-designed and driven by groups sharing a social concern. The transdisciplinary research proposed combines social sciences methods such as auto-ethnography with a computational social science approach, including complex systems and networks theory.
Key deliverables
CoAct for Mental Health Policy Brief. This Policy Brief tables recommendations to strengthen mental health social support networks. Within the local context of Catalonia, specific recommendations are made, which will be mainstreamed within the National Mental Health Pact. At a more global level, recommendations to include CSS tools and methodologies are made to the mental health research community. It is openly accessible in Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7244146
CoActuem per la Salut Mental (local Policy Brief). This Policy Brief is the summarized and translated version of the general Policy Brief and it specifically addresses the local public Administrations such as the Catalan government, through the National Mental Health Pact. This document written in Catalan in openly accessible in Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7657603
The Co-Researchers Journey in CoAct for Mental Health. Credit: Verity Harrison. This graphic document is a testimony of the Co-Researchers’ contribution to CoAct for Mental Health over a long and still unfinished journey, from 2020 to 2022. Co-Researchers, people with mental health problems and their families, have been the main actors of this research, as in-the-field competent experts. The research involved launching a chatbot in Telegram where anyone can listen to their lived experiences and react to them. Co-Researchers have been involved in the interpretation of the data collected and drew conclusions to make political recommendations and support specific demands. This document is openly accessible in Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7437457
Co-Researchers Testimonials in English. Credit: Sara López. This short video explains CoAct for Mental Health project. The protagonists are the Co-Researchers, who also invite the citizens to join the chatbot. This video can also be watched in YouTube: https://youtu.be/lYcsrqmSYhw
Credits
CoAct for Mental Health was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (CoAct, under grant agreement no. 873048).
Partners
CoAct for Mental Health was led by the research group OpenSystems from the Universitat of Barcelona (Josep Perelló, Isabelle Bonhoure, Franziska Peter and Anna Cigarini). OpenSystems develops citizen social science projects and involve communities in a vulnerable situation. Salut Mental Catalunya has been a key partner as a non-profit organisation that represents people with mental health problems and relatives (Bàrbara Mitats). The 32 Co-Researchers joined the project through an Open Call in 2020. They were involved in all research steps and in the results dissemination, as experts-in-the-field. The Knowledge Coalition, made of representatives of organisations involved in mental health care provision, were involved from 2020 to late 2022. Other key members: Itziar González-Virós (participation and cooperation), Pau Badia (chatbot drawings) and Verity Harrison (storytelling).
