2016 - 2019

2016 - 2019

2019

HORYZONS trial: protocol for a randomised controlled trial of a moderated online social therapy to maintain treatment effects from first-episode psychosis services

HORYZONS is the first intervention to exploit online social media technology and apply strengths and mindfulness approaches to improve long-term social recovery in first episode psychosis. 

This was the first randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of HORYZONS in improving social functioning at 18 months amongst young people with first episode psychosis.

Authors: Alvarez-Jimenez, M., Bendall, S., Koval, P., Rice, S., Cagliarini, D., Valentine, L., D’Alfonso, S., Miles, C., Russon, P., Penn, D. L., Phillips, J., Lederman, R., Wadley, G., Killackey, E., Santesteban-Echarri, O., Mihalopoulos, C., Herrman, H., Gonzalez-Blanch, C., Gilbertson, T., & Lal, S. (2019). BMJ Open, 9(2), e024104. 


Moderated Online Social Therapy: Viewpoint on the Ethics and Design Principles of a Web-Based Therapy 

This study provided a comprehensive review of the ethics and design principles of the Moderated Online Social Therapy (MOST) platform. The aim was to help foster usage in a way that is conducive, rather than detrimental, to a user’s mental health and wellbeing.

Authors: D’Alfonso, S., Phillips, J., Valentine, L., Gleeson, J., & Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2019). System. JMIR Mental Health, 6(12), e14866.

2018

Enhancing social functioning in young people at Ultra High Risk (UHR) for psychosis: A pilot study of a novel strengths and mindfulness-based online social therapy

This was the first study to develop and test an online intervention (MOMENTUM) designed for ultra-high risk (UHR) psychosis patients.

During this twp-month pilot study, MOMENTUM was shown to be engaging, safe and to lead to large, reliable improvements in social functioning and subjective wellbeing at follow up.

Authors: Alvarez-Jimenez, M., Gleeson, J. F., Bendall, S., Penn, D. L., Yung, A. R., Ryan, R. M., Eleftheriadis, D., D’Alfonso, S., Rice, S., Miles, C., Russon, P., Lederman, R., Chambers, R., Gonzalez-Blanch, C., Lim, M. H., Killackey, E., McGorry, P. D., & Nelson, B. (2018). Schizophrenia Research, 202, 369–377. 


Moderated online social therapy for depression relapse prevention in young people: pilot study of a “next generation” online intervention

This was the first study to evaluate an online intervention (REBOUND) to prevent relapse in youth depression. Results revealed the REBOUND intervention was acceptable, feasible, safe and highly usable for young people with major depression.

Authors: Rice, S., Gleeson, J., Davey, C., Hetrick, S., Parker, A., Lederman, R., Wadley, G., Murray, G., Herrman, H., Chambers, R., Russon, P., Miles, C., D’Alfonso, S., Thurley, M., Chinnery, G., Gilbertson, T., Eleftheriadis, D., Barlow, E., Cagliarini, D., & Toh, J.-W. (2018). Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 12(4), 613–625. 


Implementation of the Enhanced Moderated Online Social Therapy (MOST+) Model Within a National Youth E-Mental Health Service (eheadspace): Protocol for a Single Group Pilot Study for Help-Seeking Young People. 

This was the first Australia-wide research trial to pilot an online social media platform that merged real-time clinical support, expert and peer moderation, interactive online therapy and peer-to-peer networking.

Authors: Rice, S., Gleeson, J., Leicester, S., Bendall, S., D’Alfonso, S., Gilbertson, T., Killackey, E., Parker, A., Lederman, R., Wadley, G., Santesteban-Echarri, O., Pryor, I., Mawren, D., Ratheesh, A., & Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2018). JMIR Research Protocols, 7(2), e48.

Read more of our publications:

- D'Alfonso, S., Phillips, J., Valentine, L., Gleeson, J., & Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2019). Moderated Online Social Therapy: Viewpoint on the Ethics and Design Principles of a Web-Based Therapy System. JMIR Mental Health.


- McEnery, C., Lim, M., Knowles, A., Rice, S., Gleeson, J., Howell, S., . . . Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2019, 12 30). Social anxiety in young people with first-episode psychosis: Pilot study of the EMBRACE moderated online social intervention. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, eip.12912.


- McEnery, C., Lim, M., Knowles, A., Rice, S., Gleeson, J., Howell, S., . . . Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2019, 8 14). Development of a Moderated Online Intervention to Treat Social Anxiety in First-Episode Psychosis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10.


- D'Alfonso, S., & Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2019). An Introduction to eOrygen. 4th Symposium on Computing and Mental Health at CHI 2019, Glasgow.


- Alvarez-Jimenez, M., Bendall, S., Koval, P., Rice, S., Cagliarini, D., Valentine, L., . . . Gleeson, J. (2019, 2). HORYZONS trial: protocol for a randomised controlled trial of a moderated online social therapy to maintain treatment effects from first-episode psychosis services. BMJ Open, 9(2), e024104.


- Lederman, R., Gleeson, J., Wadley, G., D'alfonso, S., Rice, S., Santesteban-Echarri, O., & Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2019, 2 21). Support for Carers of Young People with Mental Illness: Design and Trial of a Technology-Mediated Therapy. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 26(1), 1-33.


- Valentine, L., McEnery, C., D'Alfonso, S., Phillips, J., Bailey, E., & Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2019, 12 11). Harnessing the Potential of Social Media to Develop the Next Generation of Digital Health Treatments in Youth Mental Health. Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry, 6(4), 325-336.

- D'Alfonso, S., Carpenter, N., & Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2018). Making the MOST out of smartphone opportunities for mental health. Proceedings of the 30th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction - OzCHI '18 (pp. 577-581). New York, New York, USA: ACM Press.


- Alvarez-Jimenez, M., Gleeson, J., Bendall, S., Penn, D., Yung, A., Ryan, R., . . . Nelson, B. (2018, 12). Enhancing social functioning in young people at Ultra High Risk (UHR) for psychosis: A pilot study of a novel strengths and mindfulness-based online social therapy. Schizophrenia Research, 202, 369-377.


- Alvarez-Jimenez, M., Gleeson, J., Rice, S., Bendall, S., D'Alfonso, S., Eleftheriadis, D., . . . Nelson, B. (2018, 4 1). 4.3 ENHANCING SOCIAL FUNCTIONING AND LONG-TERM RECOVERY IN YOUNG PEOPLE WITH FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS (FEP) AND YOUNG PEOPLE AT ULTRA HIGH RISK (UHR) FOR PSYCHOSIS: A NOVEL ONLINE SOCIAL THERAPY APPROACH. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 44(suppl_1), S4-S5.


- Rice, S., Gleeson, J., Davey, C., Hetrick, S., Parker, A., Lederman, R., . . . Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2018, 8). Moderated online social therapy for depression relapse prevention in young people: pilot study of a 'next generation' online intervention. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 12(4), 613-625.


- Rice, S., Gleeson, J., Leicester, S., Bendall, S., D'Alfonso, S., Gilbertson, T., . . . Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2018, 2 22). Implementation of the Enhanced Moderated Online Social Therapy (MOST+) Model Within a National Youth E-Mental Health Service (eheadspace): Protocol for a Single Group Pilot Study for Help-Seeking Young People. JMIR Research Protocols, 7(2), e48.

- D'Alfonso, S., Santesteban-Echarri, O., Rice, S., Wadley, G., Lederman, R., Miles, C., . . . Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2017, 6 2). Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Online Social Therapy for Youth Mental Health. Frontiers in Psychology, 8(JUN).


- Gleeson, J., Lederman, R., Herrman, H., Koval, P., Eleftheriadis, D., Bendall, S., . . . Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2017, 12 17). Moderated online social therapy for carers of young people recovering from first-episode psychosis: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials, 18(1), 27.


- Gleeson, J., Lederman, R., Koval, P., Wadley, G., Bendall, S., Cotton, S., . . . Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2017, 4 3). Moderated Online Social Therapy: A Model for Reducing Stress in Carers of Young People Diagnosed with Mental Health Disorders. Frontiers in Psychology, 8(MAR), 485.


- Santesteban-Echarri, O., Rice, S., Wadley, G., Lederman, R., D'Alfonso, S., Russon, P., . . . Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2017, 9). A next-generation social media-based relapse prevention intervention for youth depression: Qualitative data on user experience outcomes for social networking, safety, and clinical benefit. Internet Interventions, 9, 65-73.

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