Getting well using online social networks; Swanswell and Netmums Evaluation report

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1 Getting well using online social networks; Swanswell and Netmums Evaluation report

2 Executive summary This report reviews Swanswell s ongoing partner work with Netmums, the UK s fastest-growing online parenting organisation. Netmums has a registered membership of just over 1 million, and attracts over 4 million visits a month. Two years into the partnership agreement, we are the only partner organisation providing specialist advice for drugs and/or alcohol on Netmums forums. Netmums has an online forum (the Coffee House ) where members can discuss anything and everything to do with being a parent and coping with family life. This can range from everyday practical parenting tips right through to more complex issues such as post-natal depression or looking after children or teenagers with special needs. The advice provided on the forums comes from a combination of other parents, Parent Supporters (employed and trained by Netmums), and expert partner organisations (Partnership Parent Support Agencies). Netmums spotted a problem within postings on their Coffee House forum that they didn t have the expertise to be sure that they were providing sound, safe advice to members posting about alcohol and drug issues. They were signposted to us for help. We reviewed the online conversations about drug and alcohol problems that were taking place and confirmed Netmums worry that members could be put at risk by the advice being shared peer-to-peer. So they asked us to help. We initially funded this work, for a short period, to check out what the demand might be. On finding that a demand existed, this turned into a contract, where between them, two of our senior workers spent four hours a week online advising Netmums members on alcohol and drug-related issues. They not only provided general information and advice to all, but also privately when needed. The project has been a huge success. Netmums say: We were delighted to be introduced to Swanswell, who have provided Support Workers with significant expertise in drug and alcohol services. They work directly in our forum and reply to mums who have personal, partner or family problems with drugs and alcohol. Their breadth of experience means that mums get a comprehensive reply together with practical solutions for their problems. We are very pleased to be able to continue to work with Swanswell. And the numbers look good too. During the first two years we ve been working with Netmums, the advice featured in Swanswell posts was viewed an astonishing 228,720 times (Netmums, 2010/11) 1. We believe that this model of working in partnership with social networking websites provides an excellent way of raising awareness and advising people with drug and/or alcohol issues who might not have realised they had a problem or looked for help. We are planning to take what we learned from our partnership with Netmums and make this work for other online social networks, so that we can reach a wider range of people from all walks of life, for example single parents, carers, students, women, teenagers, festival-goers and so on. Getting well using online social networks; Swanswell and Netmums Evaluation report 2

3 % reach of active users Report This report looks at Swanswell s venture into helping people with drug and/or alcohol problems using a different method i.e. through online social networks. Specifically, it summarises our partner work with Netmums, the UK s fastest-growing online parenting organisation, with a membership standing at just over 1 million. Netmums spotted a problem within postings on their Coffee House forum that they didn t have the expertise to be sure that they were providing sound, safe advice to members posting about alcohol and drug issues. They were signposted to us for help. We reviewed the online conversations about drug and alcohol problems that were taking place and confirmed Netmums worry that members could be put at risk by the advice being shared peer-to-peer. So they asked us to help. We initially funded this work, for a short period, to check out what the demand might be. On finding that a demand existed, this turned into a contract, where between them, two of our senior workers spent four hours a week online advising Netmums members on alcohol and drug-related issues. They not only provided general information and advice to all, but also privately when needed. This report summarises our positive experiences with Netmums. Background on online social networking The number and range of people using online social networks has been growing very quickly over the last few years and it s predicted that it will only carry on getting bigger (Social media examiner online, 2010) 2. A recent study found that (during a 1-month period) 74% of people in the US who use the internet visit social networking websites, spending 22% of their online time on that purpose alone (Nielsen online, 2010) 3. Figures for the UK are very similar see figure 1. Figure 1: % of active users regularly accessing social networking/blog sites Country Getting well using online social networks; Swanswell and Netmums Evaluation report 3

4 The case of Netmums is a prime example of a success story in this fast-growing area. Founded in 2000 in Harrow, its initial aims were to provide information and discussion groups on childcare in the area. Eleven years on, and backed by big-name sponsors such as BT and Huggies, it s the UK s fastest-growing online parenting organisation: its current membership of just over 1 million mums is increasing by 18,000 new members a month (Netmums online, 2011) 4. Netmums has a forum called Coffee House, where up to 1,000 mums (i.e. parents or guardians) at a time are online, mostly talking about everyday issues such as parenting, relationships and life in general, but some talk about drug and alcohol use too. Many of them won t have spoken about their issues to anyone else and carry these problems on their own. The advice provided in the Coffee House comes from a combination of other parents, Parent Supporters (PSs, employed and trained by Netmums), and Partnership Parent Support Agencies (PPSAs). Netmums has teamed up with a number of PPSAs (e.g. Relate) who provide further professional help and support. At Swanswell, we re supporters of the Nudge Theory (Thaler, R and Sunstein, C., 2008) 5, which says you can t always force people to behave differently, but you can nudge them towards it using other methods that influence their choices without them necessarily realising it. We felt the Netmums forum was an ideal place to provide a nudge towards getting well and staying well for parents who might not even realise that they (or their partners or friends) have a problem with alcohol or drugs. We feel that providing advice online in this way is worthwhile because: it s easy to access it reaches people who ordinarily wouldn t go to a defined treatment service it suits people who feel awkward talking face-to-face people have time to fully process and write down their thoughts it benefits not only the people who post and reply to threads, but also many more lurkers (i.e. people who just read the threads without contributing). Research (Nielsen online, 2006) 6 suggests that in most online communities only 10% of users actually contribute to threads although the remaining 90% get some benefit from reading the posts it s an important tool to help people learn more and nudge them into action if they feel they need it This is why we agreed to work with Netmums to become their expert on alcohol and drugs. What we did with Netmums Our initial aims were to: develop a partnership with Netmums become a PPSA and deliver safe online advice and information on substance use and gain a presence online learn for future development in new media interventions to help us deliver our services to more people who need them Initially self-funding our services, for an agreed period of three months, we developed a solid working relationship with Netmums, and showed them that a demand existed and we could do the job properly. On the back of that, Netmums awarded us an initial contract to supply PPSA services from April 2009 to March They were so pleased with the partnership that this contract has subsequently been renewed twice and we re still working with them. Getting well using online social networks; Swanswell and Netmums Evaluation report 4

5 We assigned two of our senior workers to act as parent supporters providing support to calls to action from moderators behind the scenes, but also working independently on the advice boards. They worked online for four hours in total between them each week, working in two or more sessions. We used two workers so that any periods of absence could be covered with no interruption to the service. Before being let loose in the Coffee House, Netmums gave us training which covered their Parent Supporters and Coffeehouse Manual, Parent Supporters Toolkit, Admin Case System User Guide, Child Protection Policy, and a glossary of terms regularly used by members. Our experts joined in with forum discussions, monitored further replies on the threads, and also provided support through private messages. During Alcohol Awareness Week (18 20 October 2010) they also took part in a live web chat. We are the only organisation providing specialist drug and alcohol support on Netmums. Netmums own parent supporters also offered general (and informal) advice and information on substance use but have no formal training on the subject. They regularly re-directed threads to our workers for more specific and specialised guidance. Our postings set out to: establish and build a relationship with people to clearly and rapidly identify and understand problems support people in effective and innovative problem solving understand people s social context in relation to problems and potential solutions support the development of skills and strategies which allow knowledge and self-sufficiency advise and support people to find support from appropriate services where necessary support people while they implemented plans to change put people in control of their parenting Throughout the project Netmums monitored the advice we gave to confirm that it was both evidence-based and professional. Results The project was viewed as successful by both Swanswell and Netmums. In fact, Netmums were so pleased with our work that they asked us to carry on. It s still working well, and in the first two years of working with them, 228,720 people have read the advice we posted (Netmums, 2010/2011) 1. The following cases give a flavour of the range of problems cropping up on the Netmums board, and the expert advice provided by Swanswell (Netmums online, 2011) 7,8. Getting well using online social networks; Swanswell and Netmums Evaluation report 5

6 Anon (12734): I have admitted to having a problem Figure 2: A Netmums member opens up a discussion thread in the Coffee House Figure 3: Swanswell worker spots the thread and gets involved, acknowledging previous peer support while offering professional advice Getting well using online social networks; Swanswell and Netmums Evaluation report 6

7 Monica: Will they take my baby away? Figure 4: Another serious issue is raised Figure 5: A Netmums Parent Supporter replies, and includes a redirect to Swanswell Getting well using online social networks; Swanswell and Netmums Evaluation report 7

8 Figure 6: Our Swanswell expert offers non-judgemental professional advice, with an invitation to follow up with more if wanted (the majority of peer response in this thread is quite judgemental, something we disagree with at Swanswell) What Netmums say about us Netmums say they re more than happy with our work with them. In fact they re so pleased they ve asked us to keep doing it. Two years ago Netmums noticed a gap in the support we were able to offer parents, with an increasing number of mums reporting problems with drug and alcohol issues. We were delighted to be introduced to Swanswell who have provided Support Workers with significant expertise in drug and alcohol services. They work directly in our forum and reply to mums who have personal, partner or family problems with drugs and alcohol. Their breadth of experience means that mums get a comprehensive reply together with practical solutions for their problems. We are very pleased to be able to continue to work with Swanswell. Julia McGinley, Support Manager, Netmums Getting well using online social networks; Swanswell and Netmums Evaluation report 8

9 What we learned The statistics given to us by Netmums showed us that there was a clear need for our service, and it was being used widely, both by people contributing to threads, and those just passing through to learn more. We learned that providing support online in this way isn t the same as face-to-face therapy and so needs to be handled differently. Contributing to a thread can take between mins Sharing caseloads between workers is possible Workers need to adapt their skills and expertise to account for the fact that they can t judge facial expression, vocal signals, voice tones or body language Workers found that clients open up more quickly when communicating this way (the disinhibition effect ) Workers need to maintain their professionalism so that people have confidence in their qualifications and experience Conclusions Our experience with Netmums has given us a good testing ground for online support. Whilst online therapy can be quite different from face-to-face methods, the benefits (to the forum provider, the member, and Swanswell) are clear. The social network can provide its members with sound, professional information and advice when members want it We can reach a much greater number of people who might not be aware they have a problem and nudge them towards being well and staying well We can help people who would not seek help if they had to physically go and see someone Our presence as experts on a forum gets rid of myths, stigma and misinformation What s next Swanswell s experience of working in partnership with Netmums has been very positive. So positive, in fact, that following on from the pilot and the initial contract period, we re still their sole expert of choice in their alcohol and drug advice forum. We now want to take this experience and reach more people through other online social networks (for example single parents, students, women, teenagers, festival-goers etc) so that we can reach a wider range of people from all walks of life. Getting well using online social networks; Swanswell and Netmums Evaluation report 9

10 References 1. Data supplied by Netmums. 2. Porterfield, A Social media accounts for 22 percent of all online time shows new study. [Online]. Available at 27 May 2011]. 3. The Nielsen Company, Social networks/blogs now account for one in every four and a half minutes online [Online]. Available at global/social-media-accounts-for-22-percent-of-time-online/ [Accessed 13 June 2011]. 4. Netmums About us. [Online]. Available at about_us.977/ [Accessed 27 May 2011]. 5. Thaler, R. and Sunstein, C., Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Connecticut: Yale University Press. 6. Useit.com Rule for participation inequality: Lurkers vs contributors in internet communities, [Online]. Available at participation_inequality.html [Accessed 27 May 2011]. 7. Netmums Coffee House: Alcohol, drugs and addiction support. Will they take my baby away from me? [Online]. Available at advice-support-40/alcohol-drugs-addiction-support-462/ will-they-take-my-babyaway.html [Accessed 13 June 2011]. 8. Netmums Coffee House: Alcohol, drugs and addiction support. I have admitted to having a problem [Online]. Available at [Accessed 13 June 2011]. Getting well using online social networks; Swanswell and Netmums Evaluation report 10