Trial reportHealth technology assessment (Winchester, England)2020
A web-based, peer-supported self-management intervention to reduce distress in relatives of people with psychosis or bipolar disorder: the REACT RCT.
Trial report in Health technology assessment (Winchester, England), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Psychosocial Interventions in the Rehabilitation and the Management of Psychosis and Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review on Digitally-Delivered Interventions.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of psychological interventions for carers of patients with severe mental illness (SMI): a systematic review.BMJ open · 2024Pooled it
- Participatory research with carers: A systematic review and narrative synthesis.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Pooled it
- Handling Missing Data in Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR): A Systematic Review and Practical Recommendations.PharmacoEconomics · 2023Pooled it
- Factors Influencing Online Mental Health Forum Use for People from Ethnic Minority Backgrounds in the United Kingdom: A Mixed Methods Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Development, and pilot study of a single-session 'Intervention for Caregiver Affiliate stigma REduction' (i-CARE) in a tertiary care specialty psychiatry setting in North India for severe mental illnesses.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Co-designing a peer support programme for carers of people treated under the Mental Health Act: views from stakeholders.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Understanding the Impacts of Online Mental Health Peer Support Forums: Realist Synthesis.JMIR mental health · 2024Article
- Caring for a Family Member with Psychosis or Bipolar Disorder Who Has Experienced Suicidal Behaviour: An Exploratory Qualitative Study of an Online Peer-Support Forum.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Use of an Online Forum for Relatives of People With Psychosis and Bipolar Disorder: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR mental health · 2022Article
- What is the volume, diversity and nature of recent, robust evidence for the use of peer support in health and social care? An evidence and gap map.Campbell systematic reviews · 2022Review
- Evaluating the effectiveness of digital communication within the National Medication Safety Network for England.European journal of hospital pharmacy : science and practice · 2022Article
- Review
- Community-based social interventions for people with severe mental illness: a systematic review and narrative synthesis of recent evidence.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
22 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundRelatives caring for people with severe mental health problems find information and emotional support hard to access. Online support for self-management offers a potential solution.
objectiveThe objective was to determine the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an online supported self-management tool for relatives: the Relatives' Education And Coping Toolkit (REACT). DESIGN AND
settingThis was a primarily online (UK), single-blind, randomised controlled trial, comparing REACT plus a resource directory and treatment as usual with the resource directory and treatment as usual only, by measuring user distress and other well-being measures at baseline and at 12 and 24 weeks.
participantsA total of 800 relatives of people with severe mental health problems across the UK took part; relatives who were aged ≥ 16 years, were experiencing high levels of distress, had access to the internet and were actively seeking help were recruited.
interventionREACT comprised 12 psychoeducation modules, peer support through a group forum, confidential messaging and a comprehensive resource directory of national support. Trained relatives moderated the forum and responded to messages.
main outcome measureThe main outcome was the level of participants' distress, as measured by the General Health Questionnaire-28 items.
resultsVarious online and offline strategies, including social media, directed potential participants to the website. Participants were randomised to one of two arms: REACT plus the resource directory ( LIMITATIONS: The sample comprised predominantly white British females, 25% of participants were lost to follow-up and dropout in the REACT arm was not random.
conclusionsAn online self-management support toolkit with a moderated group forum is acceptable to relatives and, compared with face-to-face programmes, offers inexpensive, safe delivery of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence-recommended support to engage relatives as peers in care delivery. However, currently, REACT plus the resource directory is no more effective at reducing relatives' distress than the resource directory only. FUTURE WORK: Further research in improving the effectiveness of online carer support interventions is required.
trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN72019945.
fundingThis project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.