Digital peer support interventions have the potential to promote healthy lifestyles and better mental health. This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesizes evidence on the effectiveness of digital peer support interventions for enhancing physical and mental health in healthy individuals rather than those diagnosed with a clinical condition.

First, we evaluated the impact of digital peer support interventions on physical and mental health outcomes by attending to sources of peer support (informal, naturally occurring peer support; formal support from trained peers), effectiveness demonstrated through different study designs (pre–post comparison vs. well-controlled experimental conditions) and long-term effects of interventions. Second, we examined whether features of digital peer support interventions – specifically, dosage, uptake and platform affordances – moderated intervention effectiveness. Third, we considered moderating effects of individual differences (age and existing health conditions) and country.

Using random-effects modelling, which included 47 studies with 76 effect sizes on physical health, and 73 studies with 118 effect sizes on mental health, we found a moderate effect of digital peer support in improving physical health (standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.35, p < 0.001; 95% CI: 0.30–0.41) and a large effect in enhancing mental health (standardized mean difference(SMD) = 0.53, p < 0.001; 95% CI: 0.46–0.61), which were similar across ages and individuals with varying degree of existing health conditions. Different sources of peer support demonstrated similar effects on physical health, but informal, naturally occurring peer support was more effective in bolstering mental health than formal support from trained peers, producing large effects that were comparable to online professional support. Positive effects on physical health were sustained over follow-up assessments, but weakened for mental health over time. Greater dosages of intervention had decreased effectiveness, but uptake of intervention did not moderate the effects on health. Interventions delivered on platforms that afford greater interactivity (apps, social networking sites and video conferencing) were more effective than those with lower interactivity (forums, websites and emails). Digital peer support interventions had stronger effects on improving physical health in Western countries than Eastern countries, but stronger effects on improving mental health in Eastern than Western countries.

Our findings contribute to the nascent conceptual models of digital peer support, lend credence to digital peer support as a scalable preventive intervention with real-world benefits in bolstering individuals’ physical and mental health and provide important insights into best practices.

In individuals with severe mental illness (SMI), low muscle strength heightens the risk of mortality and chronic disease development. Routine muscle strength assessments could identify vulnerabilities, thereby reducing the growing burden associated with SMI. However, integration into clinical settings faces obstacles because of limited resources and inadequate healthcare staff training. The 5 sit-to-stand (5-STS) test offers an alternative for measuring muscle strength compared with more complex or demanding tests. Nevertheless, its validity in individuals with SMI remains unexplored.

This study aimed to analyse the criterion validity of the 5-STS test in SMI, considering potential age, gender and body mass index influences.

In a cross-sectional study following the ‘STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology’ (STROBE) guidelines, 82 adults with SMI (aged 18–65, 24 women) were assessed. Participants underwent both the 5-STS test and the isometric knee extension strength (KES) test.

Analysis revealed a significant moderate correlation coefficient and intraclass correlation coefficient (−0.58 for both) for all participants, indicating that the measures are valid and assess related aspects of the same construct. Strong agreement was observed in women and the older age groups. The 5-STS test demonstrated accuracy, with a standard error of estimate lower than the within-subject variability on the KES test. Bland–Altman plots showed limits of agreement values of −3.39 and 3.52 for the entire sample, and heteroscedasticity analyses indicated consistent differences between the 5-STS and KES tests across all groups analysed, except in the women's group.

The 5-STS test seems to be a valid test for assessing muscle strength in individuals with SMI, supporting its usefulness for routine assessment in clinical settings, facilitating detection and intervention in critical situations.

Physical health conditions are more common in individuals with autism. Some, like epilepsy, have considerable evidence supporting their increased prevalence, but many diseases lack literature to make strong conclusions.

To investigate the prevalence of physical health comorbidities in autism.

We undertook a nested cross-sectional study, using a sample from the National Centre for Mental Health database. It included participants from England and Wales who reported a clinician-made diagnosis of autism (n = 813), and a control sample without autism or mental illness (n = 2781). Participants had provided a medical history at enrolment. Analysis was carried out by binomial logistic regressions controlling for age, gender, smoking status, and antipsychotic and mood stabiliser use. A subanalysis of individuals with concurrent intellectual disability (n = 86) used binomial logistic regression with the same control variables.

Many physical health conditions were significantly more common in autism. Sixteen out of 28 conditions showed increased odds, with the highest odds ratios observed for liver disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, kidney disease, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis. A subanalysis demonstrated a similar pattern of physical health in individuals with autism with and without concurrent intellectual disability. Some conditions, including osteoporosis, hyperthyroidism, head injury and liver disease, had larger odds ratios in individuals with concurrent intellectual disability.

Physical health conditions occur more commonly in individuals with autism, and certain conditions are further increased in those with concurrent intellectual disability. Our findings contribute to prior evidence, including novel associations, and suggest that people with autism are at greater risk of physical health problems throughout adulthood.

A large and accumulating body of evidence shows that loneliness is detrimental for various health and well-being outcomes. However, less is known about potentially modifiable factors that lead to decreased loneliness.

We used data from the Health and Retirement Study to prospectively evaluate a wide array of candidate predictors of subsequent loneliness. Importantly, we examined if changes in 69 physical-, behavioral-, and psychosocial-health factors (from t0;2006/2008 to t1;2010/2012) were associated with subsequent loneliness 4 years later (t2;2014/2016).

Adjusting for a large range of covariates, changes in certain health behaviors (e.g. increased physical activity), physical health factors (e.g. fewer functioning limitations), psychological factors (e.g. increased purpose in life, decreased depression), and social factors (e.g. greater number of close friends) were associated with less subsequent loneliness.

Our findings suggest that subjective ratings of physical and psychological health and perceived social environment (e.g. chronic pain, self-rated health, purpose in life, anxiety, neighborhood cohesion) are more strongly associated with subsequent loneliness. Yet, objective ratings (e.g. specific chronic health conditions, living status) show less evidence of associations with subsequent loneliness. The current study identified potentially modifiable predictors of subsequent loneliness that may be important targets for interventions aimed at reducing loneliness.

Lifestyle interventions are important to improve the mental and physical health outcomes of people with mental illness. However, referring patients to lifestyle interventions is still not a common practice for mental healthcare professionals (MHCPs) and their own lifestyle habits may impact this. The aim of this study was to investigate MHCPs’ personal lifestyle habits, their lifestyle history and referral practices, and if these are associated with their lifestyle habits, gender, and profession.

In this cross-sectional study, an online questionnaire was distributed across relevant MHCP’s in The Netherlands. Ordinal regression analyses on lifestyle habits, gender, profession, and lifestyle history and referral practices were conducted.

A total of the 1,607 included MHCPs, 87.6% finds that lifestyle should be part of every psychiatric treatment, but depending on which lifestyle factor, 55.1–84.0% take a lifestyle history, 29.7–41.1% refer to interventions, and less than half (44.2%) of smoking patients are advised to quit. MHCPs who find their lifestyle important, who are physically more active, females, and MHCPs with a nursing background take more lifestyle histories and refer more often. Compared to current smokers, MHCPs who never or formerly smoked have higher odds (2.64 and 3.40, respectively, p < 0.001) to advice patients to quit smoking.

This study indicates that MHCPs’ personal lifestyle habits, gender, and profession affect their clinical lifestyle practices, and thereby the translation of compelling evidence on lifestyle psychiatry to improved healthcare for patients.

Three factors converge to underscore the heightened importance of evaluating the potential health/well-being effects of friendships in older adulthood. First, policymakers, scientists, and the public alike are recognizing the importance of social relationships for health/well-being and creating national policies to promote social connection. Second, many populations are rapidly aging throughout the world. Third, we currently face what some call a ‘friendship recession’. Although, growing research documents associations between friendship with better health and well-being, friendship can also have a ‘dark side’ and can potentially promote negative outcomes. To better capture friendship’s potential heterogeneous effects, we took an outcome-wide analytic approach.

We analysed data from 12,998 participants in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) – a prospective and nationally representative cohort of U.S. adults aged >50, and, evaluated if increases in friendship strength (between t0; 2006/2008 and t1; 2010/2012) were associated with better health/well-being across 35 outcomes (in t2; 2014/2016). To assess friendship strength, we leveraged all available friendship items in HRS and created a composite ‘friendship score’ that assessed the following three domains: (1) friendship network size, (2) friendship network contact frequency and (3) friendship network quality.

Stronger friendships were associated with better outcomes on some indicators of physical health (e.g. reduced risk of mortality), health behaviours (e.g. increased physical activity) and nearly all psychosocial indicators (e.g. higher positive affect and mastery, as well as lower negative affect and risk of depression). Friendship was also associated with increased likelihood of smoking and heavy drinking (although the latter association with heavy drinking did not reach conventional levels of statistical significance).

Our findings indicate that stronger friendships can have a dual impact on health and well-being. While stronger friendships appear to mainly promote a range of health and well-being outcomes, stronger friendships might also promote negative outcomes. Additional research is needed, and any future friendship interventions and policies that aim to enhance outcomes should focus on how to amplify positive outcomes while mitigating harmful ones.

Adult women of reproductive age are highly engaged with social media, suggesting its utility for conveying health information to this population, at scale. This scoping review aimed to describe health promotion interventions conducted via social media and assess their effectiveness to improve health outcomes, engagement and acceptability in adult women of reproductive age.

Six databases were searched on 13 May 2022. Two reviewers independently screened studies. Data were extracted and risk of bias assessed using the Joanna Briggs Critical Appraisal Tools.

Eligible studies conducted an intervention primarily via social media, with or without a comparison intervention, and reported health-related outcomes/behaviours pre- and post-intervention. Results were presented in narrative form.

Adult women (mean age 18–45 years).

Nine eligible studies were identified: six randomised control trials, two quasi-experimental studies and one cross-sectional study. Interventions focused on prenatal, antenatal or postpartum health or physical activity. Seven studies utilised Facebook for intervention delivery, one conducted a digital campaign across four platforms and one used WeChat. Studies reported significant improvements in a range of outcomes, including increased parenting competence, longer duration of breast-feeding and higher rates of physical activity. Social media interventions had greater engagement than control interventions.

We identified nine diverse health promotion interventions conducted via social media, which appear acceptable and effective for improving various health outcomes in adult women of reproductive age. While this supports the utility of social media to convey health information, further research is required to prove effectiveness and superiority over other intervention strategies.

There are high levels of nutritional and metabolic, cardiovascular, and respiratory tract diseases among people diagnosed with serious mental illness (SMI). Consequently, we developed a pragmatic, affordable nutritional and exercise intervention: Choices4Health. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we modified this intervention so it could be delivered online. The aim of this study was to explore the experience of participating in online Choices4Health, in a real-world clinical setting, from the perspectives of service users with SMI.

The study aim was addressed using thematic analysis. Service users who had attended online Choices4Health, received a SMI diagnosis (defined as a schizophrenia spectrum disorder or an affective disorder), and resided in a South Dublin catchment were invited to participate. Nine participants were purposefully sampled. Semi-structured interviews were conducted by telephone. Data analysis was guided by thematic analysis procedures.

Six themes were generated: Being ready and not overburdened (Engagement); Gaining knowledge and implementing it (Learning and doing); Viewing the intervention as appropriate and effective (Targeted impact); Being at home with others online (Belonging); Having a positive affective attitude towards the intervention (Feeling); and Perceiving problems with intervention delivery (Recommended change).

Findings suggest that online Choices4Health is, broadly speaking, acceptable from a service user perspective, but that further refinement is required to address specific issues participants identified. These relate to follow-up or programme extension, technology access, in-person contact preference, and participant inclusion criteria. Further research is required into online Choices4Health efficacy, innovations to reduce digital exclusion, and managing group dynamics in telehealth interventions.