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Introducing peer worker roles into UK mental health service teams: a qualitative analysis of the organisational benefits and challenges.

Gillard, SG; Edwards, C; Gibson, SL; Owen, K; Wright, C (2013) Introducing peer worker roles into UK mental health service teams: a qualitative analysis of the organisational benefits and challenges. BMC Health Services Research, 13 (188). ISSN 1472-6963 https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-13-188
SGUL Authors: Gillard, Steven George

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: The provision of peer support as a component of mental health care, including the employment of Peer Workers (consumer-providers) by mental health service organisations, is increasingly common internationally. Peer support is strongly advocated as a strategy in a number of UK health and social care policies. Approaches to employing Peer Workers are proliferating. There is evidence to suggest that Peer Worker-based interventions reduce psychiatric inpatient admission and increase service user (consumer) empowerment. In this paper we seek to address a gap in the empirical literature in understanding the organisational challenges and benefits of introducing Peer Worker roles into mental health service teams. METHODS: We report the secondary analysis of qualitative interview data from service users, Peer Workers, non-peer staff and managers of three innovative interventions in a study about mental health self-care. Relevant data was extracted from interviews with 41 participants and subjected to analysis using Grounded Theory techniques. Organisational research literature on role adoption framed the analysis. RESULTS: Peer Workers were highly valued by mental health teams and service users. Non-peer team members and managers worked hard to introduce Peer Workers into teams. Our cases were projects in development and there was learning from the evolutionary process: in the absence of formal recruitment processes for Peer Workers, differences in expectations of the Peer Worker role can emerge at the selection stage; flexible working arrangements for Peer Workers can have the unintended effect of perpetuating hierarchies within teams; the maintenance of protective practice boundaries through supervision and training can militate against the emergence of a distinctive body of peer practice; lack of consensus around what constitutes peer practice can result in feelings for Peer Workers of inequality, disempowerment, uncertainty about identity and of being under-supported. CONCLUSIONS: This research is indicative of potential benefits for mental health service teams of introducing Peer Worker roles. Analysis also suggests that if the emergence of a distinctive body of peer practice is not adequately considered and supported, as integral to the development of new Peer Worker roles, there is a risk that the potential impact of any emerging role will be constrained and diluted.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: PMCID: PMC3673834 © 2013 Gillard et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: Mental health, Peer support, Secondary data analysis (qualitative), Health services research, Recovery, Consumer participation, Service user involvement, Community psychiatry, Role adoption, Workforce development
SGUL Research Institute / Research Centre: Academic Structure > Population Health Research Institute (INPH)
Journal or Publication Title: BMC Health Services Research
ISSN: 1472-6963
Dates:
DateEvent
24 May 2013Published
PubMed ID: 23705767
Web of Science ID: 23705767
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URI: https://openaccess.sgul.ac.uk/id/eprint/101274
Publisher's version: https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-13-188

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