Digital peer-supervision platform for community mental health providers
Official title: A novel digital platform for measurement-based peer supervision of non-specialist providers conducting brief psychological interventions
Funded at Dimagi, INC. · NIH-11184516 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project builds a digital tool that helps community health workers record, rate, and review short counseling sessions so people with anxiety and other common mental health concerns get more consistent support.
Quick facts
| Grant type | Sbir 2 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Dimagi, INC. NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Cambridge, United States) |
| Project start | September 1, 2022 |
| Project end | August 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $1,005,963 |
| NIH project number | 5R44MH130305-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11184516 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are people receiving brief psychosocial care from community non-specialist providers—and the non-specialist providers themselves—especially those with anxiety or common stress-related problems in underserved communities.
✕Less likely to help
People who need specialized psychiatric care for severe mental illness, active suicidal crises, or complex psychiatric conditions are unlikely to benefit directly from this intervention.
What this research studies
If you get brief counseling from a community health worker, this project aims to help those workers improve by giving them a secure app to record sessions, rate quality using a proven checklist, and discuss cases with peers in moderated groups. The platform is designed for non-specialist providers who deliver short psychosocial interventions in places with few specialists. The team already showed the idea was acceptable and usable in Phase I and will now enhance the platform and test it with providers working directly in communities. The work focuses on measurement-based peer supervision to raise care quality and make mental health support more widely available.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the platform could raise the consistency and quality of brief mental health care delivered by non-specialist providers, expanding access to effective support in underserved areas.
How similar studies have gone: Phase I work showed the digital approach was acceptable and usable, and measurement-based supervision has promising prior evidence, but fully digital peer-supervision at scale is still relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Dimagi, INC.
Cambridge, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Ho, Y. Xian — Dimagi, INC.
- Study coordinator: Ho, Y. Xian
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.