A co-produced self-management programme improves psychosocial outcomes for people living with depression

Purpose - There is growing interest in self-management support for people living with mental health problems. The purpose of this paper is to describe the evaluation of a co-designed and co-delivered self-management programme (SMP) for people living with depression delivered as part of large scale National Health Service quality improvement programme, which was grounded in the principles of co-production. The authors investigated whether participants became more activated, were less psychologically distressed enjoyed better health status, and quality of life, and improved their self-management skills after attending the seven-week SMP. Design/methodology/approach - The authors conducted a longitudinal study of 114 people living with depression who attended the SMP. Participants completed self-reported measures before attending the SMP and at six months follow up. Findings - Patient activation significantly improved six months after the SMP (baseline M = 49.6, SD = 2.3, follow up M = 57.2, SD = 15.0, t(113) = 4.83, p<0.001; d = 0.61). Participants' experience of depression symptoms as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 significantly reduced (baseline M = 15.5, SD = 6.8, follow up M = 10.6, SD = 6.9, t(106) = 7.22, p<0.001, d = -0.72). Participants' anxiety and depression as measured by the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale also decreased significantly (baseline anxiety: M = 13.1, SD = 4.2, follow up M = 10.2, SD = 4.4, t(79) = 6.29, p<0.001, d = -0.69); (baseline depression: M = 10.3, SD = 4.6, follow up M = 7.7, SD = 4.5, t(79) = 5.32, p<0.001, d = -0.56). The authors also observed significant improvement in participants' health status (baseline M = 0.5, SD = 0.3, follow up M = 0.6, SD = 0.3, t(97) = -3.86, p<0.001, d = 0.33), and health-related quality of life (baseline M = 45.4, SD = 20.5, follow up M = 60.8, SD = 22.8, t(91) = -2.71, p = 0.008, d = 0.75). About 35 per cent of participant showed substantial improvements of self-management skills. Originality/value - The co-produced depression SMP is innovative in a UK mental health setting. Improvements in activation, depression, anxiety, quality of life and self-management skills suggest that the SMP could make a useful contribution to the recovery services in mental health.