Multicultural Implementation-Experiences of Peer Support Workers in MH Services: Qualitative Findings of UPSIDES Innovative Intervention-An International Multi-Site Project.
G S Moran, Y Goldfarb, I Adler Ben-Dor and 9 others
PMID 41182500WHAT IT FOUND
Peer support workers across sites described UPSIDES training and delivery as supporting their own recovery, vocational skills and staff relations, while role clarity and service integration remained difficult.
Key findings
01Many peer support workers reported that training and delivering UPSIDES supported their own recovery through confidence, empowerment and motivation to stay well.
02In low-income sites, workers described gaining vocational and financial skills, including employability, money planning and small businesses.
03Workers across sites wanted clearer recognition of the peer role and closer collaboration with mental health staff.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Findings are based on peer support workers' retrospective accounts, not on service-user outcomes or the trial results. Only 38 workers took part in nine focus groups across six countries, so the themes may not represent all peer workers in those settings. The analysts were not directly involved in many low-income-site groups and did not speak the local languages, which could miss cultural nuance. The study did not address gender issues because only 2 sites delivered the intervention in gender segregation. Positive experiences are workers' perceptions and cannot show that UPSIDES caused recovery, vocational or stigma outcomes.
Declared interests
The supplied text reports funding from Horizon Europe European Research Council and Ben-Gurion University. It does not report author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read workers' reported benefits as evidence that UPSIDES improves service-user outcomes. This paper reports peer support workers' focus-group experiences, not tested effects on service users.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →