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BackgroundPsychological distress, isolation, feelings of powerlessness, and limited social support are realities faced by temporary migrant live-in caregivers in Canada. Furthermore, they experience multiple barriers in accessing mental health services due to their long work hours, limited knowledge of health resources, precarious employment, and immigration status. ObjectiveThe Women Empowerment - Caregiver Acceptance & Resilience E-Learning (WE2CARE) project is a pilot intervention research project that aims to promote the mental well-being and resiliency of migrant live-in caregivers. The objectives include exploring the effectiveness of this program in achieving the following: (1) reducing psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress); (2) promoting committed actions of self-care; and (3) building mutual support social networks. Further, participants’ satisfaction with the intervention and their perceived barriers to and facilitators of practicing the self-care strategies embedded in WE2CARE will be examined. MethodsA total of 36 live-in caregivers residing in the Greater Toronto Area will be recruited and randomly assigned to either the intervention or waitlist control group. The intervention group will receive a 6-week web-based psychosocial intervention that will be based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Standardized self-reported surveys will be administered online preintervention, postintervention, and at 6 weeks postintervention to assess mental distress (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale), psychological flexibility (Acceptance and Action Questionnaire), mindfulness (Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale – Revised), and resilience (Multi-System Model of Resilience Inventory). In addition, two focus groups will be held with a subset of participants to explore their feedback on the utility of the WE2CARE program. ResultsWE2CARE was funded in January 2019 for a year. The protocol was approved by the research ethics boards of Ryerson University (REB 2019-036) and the University of Toronto (RIS37623) in February and May 2019, respectively. Data collection started upon ethics approval and was completed by May 2020. A total of 29 caregivers completed the study and 20 participated in the focus groups. Data analyses are in progress and results will be published in 2021. ConclusionsWE2CARE could be a promising approach to reducing stress, promoting resilience, and providing a virtual space for peer emotional support and collaborative learning among socially isolated and marginalized women. The results of this pilot study will inform the adaptation of an ACT-based psychological intervention for online delivery and determine its utility in promoting mental health among disadvantaged and vulnerable populations. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/31211

BackgroundRapid urbanization, academic pressures, and developmental life transition stressors contribute to mental health stress for postsecondary students in China. Effective prevention, early identification, and timely intervention are challenged by stigma, a lack of mental health literacy, and inadequate mental health resources. ObjectiveOur implementation science (IS) research project is aimed at evaluating the use of an evidence-informed mental health promotion intervention named Acceptance and Commitment to Empowerment – Linking Youth and ‘Xin’ (hearts) (ACE-LYNX) to promote university student mental health in Jinan, China. MethodsWe will engage and collaborate with Shandong Mental Health Center, the provincial mental health center, and six local universities in different regions of Jinan. The ACE-LYNX intervention aims to reduce social stigma against mental illness, enhance mental health literacy, and improve access to quality mental health care by increasing interdisciplinary collaboration and forming a mental health network. It is based on two evidence-based approaches, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Group Empowerment Psychoeducation (GEP), and it will be delivered through online learning and in-person group training. The project will train 90 interdisciplinary professionals using the model. They will in turn train 15 professionals and 20 students at each university. The project will adopt the Reach, Efficacy, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework, which provides a structure to examine the process and outcomes of implementation using mixed methods comprising quantitative and qualitative approaches along five dimensions: reach, efficacy, adoption, implementation, and maintenance. ResultsOver the course of the project, 720 champions will be directly trained. They will contribute to developing a formal and informal mental health network, strengthened by student-led mental health initiatives and professional-led initiatives to promote collaborative care and facilitated care pathways. We anticipate that our project will reach out to 11,000 to 18,000 students. ConclusionsThis IS protocol will outline our unique intervention model and key steps to contextualize, implement, and evaluate community-based mental health intervention. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)PRR1-10.2196/25592

Background: Psychological distress, isolation, feelings of powerlessness, and limited social support are realities faced by temporary migrant live-in caregivers in Canada. Furthermore, they experience multiple barriers in accessing mental health services due to their long work hours, limited knowledge of health resources, precarious employment, and immigration status., Objective: The Women Empowerment - Caregiver Acceptance & Resilience E-Learning (WE2CARE) project is a pilot intervention research project that aims to promote the mental well-being and resiliency of migrant live-in caregivers. The objectives include exploring the effectiveness of this program in achieving the following: (1) reducing psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress); (2) promoting committed actions of self-care; and (3) building mutual support social networks. Further, participants' satisfaction with the intervention and their perceived barriers to and facilitators of practicing the self-care strategies embedded in WE2CARE will be examined., Methods: A total of 36 live-in caregivers residing in the Greater Toronto Area will be recruited and randomly assigned to either the intervention or waitlist control group. The intervention group will receive a 6-week web-based psychosocial intervention that will be based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Standardized self-reported surveys will be administered online preintervention, postintervention, and at 6 weeks postintervention to assess mental distress (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale), psychological flexibility (Acceptance and Action Questionnaire), mindfulness (Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale - Revised), and resilience (Multi-System Model of Resilience Inventory). In addition, two focus groups will be held with a subset of participants to explore their feedback on the utility of the WE2CARE program., Results: WE2CARE was funded in January 2019 for a year. The protocol was approved by the research ethics boards of Ryerson University (REB 2019-036) and the University of Toronto (RIS37623) in February and May 2019, respectively. Data collection started upon ethics approval and was completed by May 2020. A total of 29 caregivers completed the study and 20 participated in the focus groups. Data analyses are in progress and results will be published in 2021., Conclusions: WE2CARE could be a promising approach to reducing stress, promoting resilience, and providing a virtual space for peer emotional support and collaborative learning among socially isolated and marginalized women. The results of this pilot study will inform the adaptation of an ACT-based psychological intervention for online delivery and determine its utility in promoting mental health among disadvantaged and vulnerable populations., International Registered Report Identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/31211., (©Kenneth Po-Lun Fung, Mandana Vahabi, Masoomeh Moosapoor, Abdolreza Akbarian, Jenny Jing-Wen Liu, Josephine Pui-Hing Wong. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 13.09.2021.)