Establishing a Research Agenda for Understanding the Role and Impact of Mental Health Peer Specialists
Authors
Chinman, MatthewMcInnes, D. Keith.
Eisen, Susan
Ellison, Marsha Langer
Farkas, Marianne
Armstrong, Moe
Resnick, Sandra G.
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2017-09-01Keywords
peer supportpeer specialists
mental health
Mental and Social Health
Psychiatry
Psychiatry and Psychology
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Mental health peer specialists are individuals with serious mental illnesses who receive training to use their lived experiences to help others with serious mental illnesses in clinical settings. This Open Forum discusses the state of the research for mental health peer specialists and suggests a research agenda to advance the field. Studies have suggested that peer specialists vary widely in their roles, settings, and theoretical orientations. Theories of action have been proposed, but none have been tested. Outcome studies have shown benefits of peer specialists; however, many studies have methodological shortcomings. Qualitative descriptions of peer specialists are plentiful but lack grounding in implementation science frameworks. A research agenda advancing the field could include empirically testing theoretical mechanisms of peer specialists, developing a measure of peer specialist fidelity, conducting more rigorous outcomes studies, involving peer specialists in executing the research, and assessing various factors that influence implementing peer specialist services and testing strategies that could address those factors.Source
Psychiatr Serv. 2017 Sep 1;68(9):955-957. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201700054. Epub 2017 Jun 15. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1176/appi.ps.201700054Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/40366PubMed ID
28617205Related Resources
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1176/appi.ps.201700054