Master’s Student Gloria Obuobi-Donkor & Clinical Professor Dr. Vincent Agyapong Launch Text Messaging Apps for First Responders

Dr. Vincent Agyapong, a Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, has unveiled the latest additions to his growing portfolio of free supportive mental health text messaging apps.

Text4PTSI (Post-Traumatic Stress Injury) and Text4Well-being are designed to support police, firefighters, paramedics and other first responders who often battle crippling job-related stress and trauma, which can lead to debilitating mental health disorders.

Master’s student Gloria Obuobi-Donkor will help to oversee the rollout of the new apps under the supervision of Dr. Agyapong, who was recently appointed Chair of Dalhousie University’s Department of Psychiatry, effective Sept. 5^th, 2021.

“Dr. Agyapong has of course developed other successful supportive text messaging programs such as Text4Hope, which was created to support mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic and now has about 54,000 subscribers. But Text4PTSI is the first app aimed specifically at first responders,” says Obuobi-Donkor.

“Text4PTSI targets first responders who have already suffered Post-Traumatic Stress, so these text messages are designed to reduce the symptoms of Depression, Anxiety or other mental health issues that they are experiencing,” she explains.

“But some first responders obviously don’t have PTSI, and the Text4Well-being messages are designed to help them to stay mentally healthy and avoid developing PTSI.”

The texts were created by Dr. Agyapong and his team, along with first responders themselves and mental health clinicians at Edmonton’s Operational Stress Injury (OSI) Clinic. The clinic provides specialized outpatient clinical assessment and treatment services for Veterans, current Canadian Forces members, eligible members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and their families.

The daily inspirational text messages, some of which are linked to mental health information and support services, will run for a period of six months and can be accessed by texting either ‘WELLBEING’ or ‘PTSI’ to 1-844-990-4343.

The first responder texts are provided by the Supporting Health in First Responders grant in partnership with Alberta Health Services, the U of A and the Heroes in Mind Advocacy & Research Consortium in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine.

“Since we’ve just launched Text4PTSI and Text4Well-being we don’t have any user data yet, but we’ll be doing surveys of everyone who subscribes. The good news is that some first responders have already subscribed to the program and completed the survey. The horizon for this is broad, covering not just Edmonton but all of Alberta, so we’d expect to have thousands of subscribers,” says Obuobi-Donkor, who plans to write her Master’s thesis on the results next year.

“In the short term I’ll be collecting and reviewing the surveys that people fill, so that’s my immediate focus. Then I’ll collaborate of course with Professor Agyapong and we’ll determine how we go about analyzing the data and compiling the results at intervals of six weeks, three months and six months. Based on that we will publish a paper so clinicians will be able to assess how effective the apps are in supporting the mental health of first responders.”

Although Dr. Agyapong will soon relocate to Halifax, he will remain a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the U of A and will continue to supervise Obuobi-Donkor and two other graduate students, as well as three Postdoctoral researchers.

“Thanks to technology we’ll be able to continue to communicate regularly so distance is not an issue,” says Obuobi-Donkor, who credits Dr. Agyapong for playing a key role in inspiring her to pursue a career in Psychiatry.

“Like Dr. Agyapong I am from Ghana, where I completed my Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing. I worked in the eastern region of Ghana for seven years, and then I had the opportunity to work in the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital in Cape Coast. After working with patients there, I developed a passion for Psychiatry,” she explains.

“I had previously read about Professor Agyapong helping to train Psychiatrists in Ghana, and I really fell in love with his story. It was inspiring seeing an African living in Canada and helping other people,” she says.

“In 2019, on a mental health platform I’m on, I came across the opportunity for nursing students to pursue the Master’s program in the Department of Psychiatry at the U of A. I applied immediately and was fortunate to obtain a scholarship to study under the supervision of Professor Agyapong.”

Obuobo-Donkor expects to continue her studies once she completes her Master’s degree.

“It’s really inspiring to do this kind of research. I’m learning a lot and you get to see where there are gaps that you can help to address, or maybe to recommend other solutions to help the world as a whole. So, I would like to continue my studies after this and pursue a PhD,” she says.

As for the transition from Ghana to Alberta, Obuobi-Donkor admits that travel issues during a global pandemic made it a bit bumpy.

“It hasn’t been easy. I had to quarantine in Toronto before coming to Edmonton,” she says. “I’m enjoying the summer weather here now, it’s not so different from Ghana. But maybe I’ll wait to see what the winter is like,” she laughs.