The impact of peer mentor communication with older adults on depressive symptoms and working alliance: A pilot study.
Jin Hui Joo, Seungyoung Hwang, Joseph J Gallo and 1 others
PMID 29128295WHAT IT FOUND
Peer mentors used more client-centered talk over time, and this was associated with stronger working alliance and lower depression scores.
Medical information and specific counseling skills were associated with worse depression. The study was correlational and small.
Key findings
01Peer mentors' client-centered talk increased significantly over the mentoring period.
02Rapport building and client-centered talk were associated with increasing working alliance, while rapport building, reassurance, psychosocial counseling, and client-centered talk were associated with reductions in depression.
03Provision of medical information was associated with decreased working alliance and worsened depression, and use of identified counseling skills was associated with worsening depression.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The findings are correlational, so they cannot show that any communication behavior caused improvement. The study had a small number of mentors and clients, and the mentors may not represent most peer mentors. Only a subset of recorded meetings was coded, so the communication analysis may miss what happened in other meetings. The presence of an audio recorder may have changed how frankly clients and mentors spoke. The reported decrease in depression is from a pilot, so it cannot show that the peer program works.
Declared interests
The paper is listed as Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural. The supplied text does not report a conflict of interest declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that peer mentoring reduced depression because mentors used client-centered talk. The study was correlational and small, and medical information and specific counseling skills were associated with worse depression.