Connecting People Pilot and Demonstration Project in Atlantic County, New Jersey, USA
Adapting and implementing the Connecting People Intervention to address social isolation among people with mental health problems in the USA.
Research Team
Co-Investigators
- Laura Rodgers, Jewish Family Services of Atlantic and Cape May Counties, New Jersey, USA
- Professor Christine Tartaro, School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Stockton University, New Jersey, USA
Background
Social connections are good for our mental health (Kawachi & Berkman 2001). Conversely, social isolation and loneliness have a negative impact on mental health and increase the risk of mortality (Leigh-Hunt et al 2017). The evidence base for interventions which support people with mental health problems to connect with others is limited (Webber & Fendt-Newlin 2017). The Connecting People Intervention (CPI), developed by Webber et al (2015, 2016), is a social intervention that draws upon strengths-based social work practice (Saleebey, 2012) and social capacity theory (Lin, 2001) to encourage and increase social and community engagement thereby developing individuals’ own social networks. Connecting People was developed from a qualitative study of practice in six health and social care agencies in England (Webber et al, 2015); it was piloted with 16 health and social care agencies across England (Howarth et al, 2016; Webber et al, 2018); and later implemented in five community mental health teams in England (Moran et al, 2020; Webber et al, 2021).
Purpose of the research
This research study aimed to test whether the Connecting People Intervention could be adapted to the US context and could reduce social isolation and loneliness and increase and improve social connections for service users from justice-involved and homeless populations. To do this we collaborated with Jewish Family Services (JFS) (broadly undertaking social work activities) in Atlantic and Cape May counties, New Jersey, and Stockton University, New Jersey.
What we did
The study consisted of three phases:
I: Training cohorts of staff within JFS in what the CPI was and how to use it, ensuring we were able to have ‘intervention teams’ with staff trained in CPI and ‘control teams’ with staff who were not trained in CPI.
II: Pilot project where manuals were Americanised, programmes run by JFS were placed into intervention or control arms and CPI and the fidelity measures and outcome measures were tested to see how they worked in this context.
III: Full project where CPI was rolled out across identified teams and programmes and outcome measures were used to obtain data at baseline, six month follow-up and 12 month follow-up. However, due to Covid-19 and associated lockdowns, numerous adaptations were required, including a move to telephone rather than face-to-face meetings and more online/telephone based group work, which impacted on data collection and on findings.
Associated research projects/publications
Please visit the Connecting People website:
Connecting People Development Study
Webber, M. (2014) From ethnography to randomised controlled trial: An innovative approach to developing complex social interventions, Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, 11 (1-2), 173-182.
Webber, M., Reidy, H., Ansari, D., Stevens, M. & Morris, D. (2015) Enhancing social networks: a qualitative study of health and social care practice in UK mental health services, Health and Social Care in the Community, 23 (2), 180-189.
Webber, M., Reidy, H., Ansari, D., Stevens, M. & Morris, D. (2016) Developing and modelling complex social interventions: introducing the Connecting People intervention, Research on Social Work Practice, 26 (1), 14-19.
Connecting People Pilot Study
Newlin, M., Webber, M., Morris, D. & Howarth, S. (2015) Social participation interventions for adults with mental health problems: A review and narrative synthesis, Social Work Research, 39 (3), 167–180.
Howarth, S., Morris, D., Newlin, M. & Webber, M. (2016) Health and social care interventions which promote social participation for adults with learning disabilities: a review. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 44 (1), 3-15.
Webber, M., Morris, D., Haworth, S., Fendt-Newlin, M., Treacy, S. & McCrone, P. (2019) Effect of the Connecting People Intervention on social capital: a pilot study, Research on Social Work Practice, 29 (5), 483-494.
Connecting People Implementation Study
Moran, N., Webber, M., Dosanjh Kaur, H., Morris, D., Ngamaba, K., Nunn, V., Thomas, E. & Thompson, K.J. (2020) Co-producing practice research: The Connecting People Implementation Study. In Joubert, L. and Webber, M. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Social Work Practice Research (1st edition). London: Routledge.
Webber, M., Ngamaba, K., Moran, N., Pinfold, V., Boehnke, J. R., Knapp, M., Henderson, C., Rehill, A. & Morris, D. (2021) The Implementation of Connecting People in Community Mental Health Teams in England: A Quasi-Experimental Study, The British Journal of Social Work, 51 (3), 1080-1100.
Ngamaba, K. H., Moran, N. & Webber, M. (2023). The recovery process and access to the social capital of people with severe mental health problems: a secondary analysis of a six months follow-up study in five Community Mental Health Teams in England, Journal of Recovery in Mental Health, 6 (1), 45-64.
Connecting People in Colleges
Lovell, J. & Webber, M. (2023) Adaptation of Connecting People to address loneliness and social isolation in university students: a feasibility study, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 46 (1), 32-47.
Connecting People in Sierra Leone
Newlin, M. & Webber, M. (2015) Effectiveness of knowledge translation of social interventions across economic boundaries: a systematic review, European Journal of Social Work, 18 (4), 543-568.
For more information (please contact):
Professor Martin Webber, Director of the Mental Health Social Care Research Centre, School for Business and Society, University of York, York, UK.