Non-peer professionals' understanding of recovery and attitudes towards peer support workers joining existing community mental health teams in the North Denmark Region: A qualitative study.
- Resource Type
- Academic Journal
- Authors
- Lerbæk B; Unit for Psychiatric Research, Aalborg University Hospital - Psychiatry, Aalborg, Denmark.; Johansen K; Unit for Psychiatric Research, Aalborg University Hospital - Psychiatry, Aalborg, Denmark.; Unit for Forensic Research, Mental Health Department Middelfart, Psychiatry Region of Southern Denmark, Middelfart, Denmark.; Burholt AK; Unit for Psychiatric Research, Aalborg University Hospital - Psychiatry, Aalborg, Denmark.; Gregersen LM; Center for Recovery and Co-Creation, Psychiatry - Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.; Terp MØ; Center for Recovery and Co-Creation, Psychiatry - Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.; Slade M; School of Health Sciences, Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.; Health and Community Participation Division, Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Nord University, Namsos, Norway.; Castelein S; Lentis Research, Lentis Psychiatric Institute, Groningen, The Netherlands.; Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.; Jørgensen R; Unit for Psychiatric Research, Aalborg University Hospital - Psychiatry, Aalborg, Denmark.; Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
- Source
- Publisher: Blackwell Pub Country of Publication: Australia NLM ID: 101140527 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1447-0349 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14458330 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Int J Ment Health Nurs Subsets: MEDLINE
- Subject
- Language
- English
Peer support is a collaborative practice where people with lived experience of mental health conditions engage in supporting like-minded. Peer support impacts on personal recovery and empowerment and creates value at an organisational level. However, the implementation of peer support into existing mental health services is often impeded by barriers embedded in organisational culture and support in role expectations. Non-peer professionals' recovery orientation and attitudes towards peer support workers (PSWs) are essential factors in the implementation of peer support, and this study explored non-peer professionals' understanding of recovery and their attitudes towards PSWs joining existing community mental health teams in one region of Denmark. In total, 17 non-peer professionals participated in three focus groups. Thematic analysis led to three themes: (1) Recovery is a process of "getting better" and balancing personal and clinical perspectives; (2) Realising recovery-oriented practice: a challenging task with conflicting values; and (3) Expectations and concerns about peer support workers joining the team. Recovery-oriented practice faces challenging conditions in contemporary mental health services due to a dominant focus on biomedical aspects in care and treatment. Implementation facilitators and barriers in the employment of PSWs point towards fundamental aspects that must be present when employing PSWs in an organisation. The issues described leading up to the employment of PSWs reflected in this study underpin the importance of preparing an organisation for the employment of PSWs based on the available knowledge.
(© 2024 The Authors. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)