Peer supporters' mental health and emotional wellbeing needs: Key factors and opportunities for co-produced training

Co-designing a peer support programme for carers of people treated under the Mental Health Act: views from stakeholders

BACKGROUND

Relatives/friends (carers) of people who are involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital report high levels of stress, feelings of isolation and exclusion from their patient's care. One-to-one peer support is widely implemented for patients, facilitating mental health recovery. Preliminary evidence reports that peer support may benefit carers too, but a one-to-one peer support programme to help carers when their relatives/friends are in hospital has not been developed.

OBJECTIVE

To explore carers', patients', and professionals' views on what an accessible, feasible and helpful one-to-one peer support intervention should consider for carers of patients treated under the Mental Health Act (MHA) in England.

METHOD

Nineteen one-to-one interviews were conducted online with five carers, four patients, four clinicians, four independent mental health advocates and two behaviour change experts. Participants had experience of either being treated or supporting someone treated under the MHA within the last 10 years. Audio recordings of the interviews were transcribed, and data were analysed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Five themes were identified: (a) carer availability and awareness; (b) peer support flexibility; (c) early promotion of peer support; (d) appropriate training and support for peers, and; (e) anticipated impact of peer support. Carers' lack of time and awareness of support were reported as key barriers to accessing peer support. To address this, participants emphasised the need for early introduction of support following patients' hospitalisation and flexible delivery through various communication channels. They also highlighted the need for robust, interactive training for peer supporters. Expected benefits included improved carer and peer supporter wellbeing and increased carer knowledge and empowerment.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight the need for structured training for peer supporters and a flexible, accessible peer support programme for carers. The findings can inform evidence-based co-production of a carer peer support programme for use in England, which could improve carer wellbeing, knowledge and empowerment.

A Structured Peer Support Intervention for Patients With Hematologic Malignancies Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: Peer Support Interventionists' Perspectives

BACKGROUND

Peer support is emerging as an important component of supportive care for patients with hematologic malignancies, but it has not been robustly implemented in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).

OBJECTIVES

This qualitative study aimed to explore the experiences of peer support interventionists (participants) delivering a structured, 5-session, phone-delivered peer support intervention, the Supporting Transplant Experiences with Peer Program (STEPP) for patients undergoing HSCT.

METHODS

Adult patients who underwent allogeneic or autologous HSCT for the treatment of a hematologic malignancy within the past 3 years were eligible to volunteer in this study as trained STEPP interventionists. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted to explore participants' experiences, including their motivations for volunteering, reflections on intervention delivery and on the impact of peer support, and challenges faced while serving in this role. Interviews were deductively analyzed by 2 coders using framework-guided rapid analysis.

RESULTS

Twenty STEPP interventionists participated in this study. Participants were 65% men, with a median age of 63.5 years. Most (75%) had undergone allogeneic HSCT. Emerging themes from the qualitative interviews highlighted that participants were motivated to serve as interventionists by a sense of gratitude for their transplant care and a desire to share their transplant experiences with others. The impact of the STEPP intervention on interventionists included opportunities to process their transplant journey while also providing support to their peers. Interventionists reported a preference for free-flowing conversations, which were still guided by the structured manual. Challenges included terminating the interventionist-patient relationship at the conclusion of STEPP.

CONCLUSION

Peer support interventions for patients undergoing HSCT have the potential to enhance well-being and provide meaning for both patients preparing to undergo HSCT and HSCT survivors who serve as interventionists. Large-scale randomized clinical trials are needed to test the efficacy of peer support interventions for improving health-related outcomes among patients undergoing HSCT and HSCT survivors serving as interventionists for these interventions.

A Qualitative Exploration of Peer Supporters' Experiences of Undertaking a Co-Produced Mental Health and Emotional Well-Being Training Programme

INTRODUCTION

Peer supporters play a crucial role in mental health and support services, but their own mental health and emotional well-being are often neglected by themselves, and, frequently, their organisations. Here, we report findings from a qualitative interview study of peer supporters who completed a co-produced emotional well-being training programme.

METHOD

Ten semi-structured interviews with peer supporters working in the North East of England were conducted to explore their experiences of the training programme.

RESULTS

Thematic analysis of the data produced three overarching themes. In Theme 1, 'Increasing psychological preparedness and identifying self-care and coping strategies', we found that peer supporters improved their knowledge of how to manage sensitive topics such as aggression and suicide and felt more confident in their peer support roles resultantly. In Theme 2, 'It's good to know you're not alone', peer supporters discussed their experience of loneliness in their roles, and as a consequence realised their own need for peer support to help maintain their well-being. Theme 3, 'Toward the future: next steps', encapsulated peer supporters' willingness to continue their role development and to create a peer support network to continue to obtain mutual support.

CONCLUSION

Our findings emphasise the perceived emotional well-being benefits of a co-produced peer supporter training programme. Participants highlighted the need for co-produced training programmes that are (1) emotion-focussed, (2) provide access to other peer supporters and (3) provide future avenues for a peer supporter network of mutual support and professional development activities and training opportunities.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

Individuals with lived experience of mental ill health and peer support were consulted in the development of interview questions and provided feedback on the finalised themes to ensure the analysis and interpretations were congruent with their experiences.

'Chugging along, plugging in and out of it': Understanding a place-based approach for community-based support of mental health recovery

Community-based Mental Health (MH) organisations in the United Kingdom (UK) are facing challenges for sustaining in-person service delivery. Without empirical evidence that demonstrates the value of a place-based approach for MH recovery, and the types of resources needed to build nurturing spaces for peer support, community-based MH organisations will struggle to maintain their physical spaces. We present empirical insights from a case study involving interviews with 20 students accessing peer support services at the Recovery College Collective, a community-based MH organisation located in the North East of England. The interview study aims to evidence how a place-based approach can afford MH recovery. We draw from discourses on place-making and interpret our interview findings through an established framework that highlights four mechanisms through which place impacts recovery: place for doing, being, becoming and belonging. We use this framework to structure our findings and highlight key qualities of place for establishing and maintaining MH recovery. Our contribution is two-fold: we address a gap in the literature by providing empirical understandings of how place influences MH recovery, whilst extending previous research by considering the role that place plays in community-based organisations. This is timely because of the challenges faced in securing in-person service delivery post-pandemic, and a shift towards remote service provision models. We highlight key implications: (i) Accessing a physical place dedicated to MH support is vital for people who do not have anywhere else to go and are socially isolated due to their health conditions; (ii) Connecting through peer-to-peer interaction is an integral part of the recovery process, and learning from people with lived experience can inform a place-based approach that best suit their needs; and (iii) Recognising the value of place for MH support, and the resources needed for peer support delivery in the community, will help secure places that our research participants described as lifesaving.

Exploring individual parent-to-parent support interventions for parents caring for children with brain-based developmental disabilities: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

Brain-based developmental disabilities (BBDDs) comprise a large and heterogeneous group of disorders including autism, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy or genetic and neurodevelopmental disorders. Parents caring for a child with BBDD face multiple challenges that cause increased stress and high risk of mental health problems. Peer-based support by fellow parents for a various range of patient groups has shown potential to provide emotional, psychological and practical support. Here, we aim to explore existing literature on individual peer-to-peer support (iP2PS) interventions for parents caring for children with BBDD with a view to (1) explore the impact of iP2PS interventions on parents and (2) identify challenges and facilitators of iP2PS.

METHOD

An extensive literature search (January 2023) was performed, and a thematic analysis was conducted to synthesize findings.

RESULTS

Fourteen relevant articles revealed three major themes regarding the impact of iP2PS on parents: (1) emotional and psychological well-being, (2) quality of life and (3) practical issues. Four themes were identified describing challenges and facilitators of iP2PS: (1) benefits and burden of giving support, (2) matching parent-pairs, (3) logistic challenges and solutions and (4) training and supervision of parents providing peer support.

CONCLUSIONS

This review revealed that iP2PS has a positive impact on the emotional and psychological well-being of parents, as well as the overall quality of life for families caring for a child with a BBDD. Individual P2PS offers peer-parents an opportunity to support others who are facing challenges similar to those they have experienced themselves. However, many questions still need to be addressed regarding benefits of different iP2PS styles, methods of tailoring support to individual needs and necessity of training and supervision for peer support providers. Future research should focus on defining these components and evaluating benefits to establish effective iP2PS that can be provided as standard care practice for parents.