The POETIC Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Peer support Observational Ethnography – Theory in Context (POETIC) Study
IRAS ID
304779
Contact name
Mike Slade
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
0000,
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Research Summary
The aim of this study is to explore how mental health peer support workers integrate and work with the wider mental health team. Peer support workers are individuals with personal experience of mental health problems and/or mental health services who are employed to use their experiential knowledge in providing support to others accessing mental health services. Peer support worker roles are increasingly becoming an integral part of mental health systems in the United Kingdom. However, evaluations of peer support role implementation consistently identify that organisational culture is the largest influence on the successful implementation of peer support worker roles.
The study will focus on peer support workers who are employed at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The co-investigator will undertake non-participant observation of peer support workers daily activities by concentrating on their interactions, behaviours, language, and dynamics with each other, other team members, and non-team members (e.g., non-NHS staff, service users, and family members) with a specific focus on understanding the peer support worker role in its context. Following this, the co-investigator will also interview a range of team members and elicit their perspectives about working alongside peer support workers and their role. In parallel, the co-investigator will also collect documents relating to the peer support worker role.
Summary of Results
During this study, the role of a peer support worker in a mental health team was investigated. A peer support worker is someone with personal experience of mental health issues and recovery, who is employed in a mental health team to use their experiences to benefit service users being seen by the team. Three types of data were collected. First, 163 hours of observation were undertaken, to understand how the peer support work role operates in practice including informal conversations with team members. Second, 68 documents were collected, to capture the formal and informal policies and procedures used by the team. Finally, 13 interviews were undertaken with the multidisciplinary members of the mental health team, including peer support workers, psychiatrists, and nurses. The findings from these data sources are being integrated, to understand how the organisational culture within which the peer support worker operates impacts on their roles and responsibilities.
REC name
HSC REC A
REC reference
21/NI/0192
Date of REC Opinion
13 Dec 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion