Collaborators, not competitors: Peer workers and professionals

摘要

When going through tough times, talking to someone considerate who knows from personal experience what you're going through can prove invaluable. Therefore, few will be surprised by growing evidence that mental health service users who offer help to fellow service users show outcomes that are at least as effective as those achieved by professional care staff. The evidence for peer support is persuasive. A new Cochrane Database systematic review looked at the results of 11 randomized controlled trials involving approximately 3,000 participants in which service users provided a range of interventions to other service users, including peer support, coaching, and advocacy (Pitt et al., 2013). In five trials, they found outcomes across a range of measures no different than when services had been provided by professionals. Another six studies compared mental health services with or without the addition of service user providers and found no significant differences between the two types of service on a range of outcomes for patients. In one study, the inclusion of peer workers reduced emergency service use. But there is more. Researchers looked at the results of 14 randomized controlled trials of peer support for individuals with depression. This meta-analysis found that peer support interventions for depression were superior to usual care in reducing depressive symptoms and similar in effectiveness to group cognitive-behavioral therapy (Pfeiffer, Heisler, Piette, Rogers, & Va-lenstein, 2011).