Delivery of a community-based peer mentorship program for people with spinal cord injury at a rehabilitation center.
Zhiyang Shi, Jacques Comeau, Gordon A Bloom and 3 others
PMID 38094084WHAT IT FOUND
Peer mentors were on site with a rehab team that included PTs and OTs.
Patients sometimes confused mentors with clinicians. Shared workspace, informal talks, and a written agreement on boundaries were described as important for collaboration.
Key findings
01Peer mentors were based at the rehabilitation center and worked directly with a multidisciplinary team that included occupational therapists and physical therapists.
02Patients may expect clinical guidance from mentors, which can blur roles and reduce perceived benefit of engaging with mentors.
03Mentors shared workspace with health professionals, and an agreement set limits on mentor access to confidential patient information.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study interviewed only 7 people, including only 2 healthcare professionals. The 2 healthcare professionals interviewed were a social worker and a kinesiologist, not PTs or OTs. The 2 healthcare professionals volunteered for the study, so they may have had favorable views of the program. It describes a long-standing program at a rehabilitation center, so the findings may not apply to other settings. The researchers did not use the updated CFIR version, and initial coding was done by one author before team review. Because it is qualitative, it reports experiences and collaboration processes, not patient outcomes or treatment effects.
Declared interests
The authors reported financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication. Support included a doctoral scholarship from the Réseau Provincial de Recherche en Adaptaion-Réadaptation and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Research in Metropolitan Montreal, and a Canada Research Chair grant for one author. No company funding or competing interest is stated.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that peer mentorship improves spinal cord injury recovery. It is a qualitative study of how a program was delivered, and it reports no patient outcomes.