Service users’ perceptions of professional peer support work
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A grounded theory study of service users’ perceptions of professional peer support work
IRAS ID
139218
Contact name
Thomas Schroder
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Research summary
Peer support work within mental health has grown at a phenomenal rate internationally over the past 20 years. It has evolved from mutual support found in groups such as Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous to service users being employed as professionals within existing mental health teams. It is thought that those who share similar experiences can relate to one another better and therefore offer more authentic empathy (Mead & MacNeil, 2006).
Peer support work has been found to produce results at least on a par with non-peer provided services (Davidson et al, 2012) and has been found to have some personal benefits to the peer support workers themselves, the system and recipients of care. Whilst there has been research into peer support workers’ perspectives of their role and how this position may or may not be beneficial to them, the research into the perceived benefits for the recipients has tended to come from other professionals or peer support workers themselves. It is incredibly important to give service users a voice within the mental health service and within recovery models and this study looks to explore service users experiences of peer support work and the psychological processes through which change may occur.
Theories of the psychological processes have been proposed by Solomon (2004) but these are based on mutual support rather than the professional peer support that is growing within the National Health Service (NHS). This study will specifically look at the recipients of professional peer support work within Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust. Semi-structured interviews will be used to examine the perceptions of service users and the psychological processes involved in peer support work.REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EM/0042
Date of REC Opinion
21 Feb 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion