| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
Peer support
— what is it and does it work? | | Corporate Author | NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts); National Voices |
| Publisher | NESTA; National Voices, London, 2015 |
| Pages | 57 pp |
| Source | http://www.nationalvoices.org.uk/sites/www.nationa... |
| Keywords | Advocacy ; Advisory services [elderly] ; Social contacts ; Well being ; Literature reviews. |
| Annotation | Peer support involves people drawing on shared personal experience to provide knowledge, social interaction, emotional assistance or practical help to each other, often in a way that is mutually beneficial. Peer support is different from other types of support because the source of support is a similar person with relevant experience. This review of the literature was undertaken by two reviewers at an independent organisation, The Evidence Centre; they searched ten bibliographic databases independently to identify studies published between January 2000 and January 2015. More than 20,000 studies were screened and 1,023 studies were identified for inclusion. 524 of these studies examined the outcomes of peer support, while the others described processes. This review examines the effect of various types of peer support on people's experience, behaviour and health outcomes and health service use. Based on the totality of evidence, the review concludes that the top three most useful types of initiatives for improving emotional and physical well-being may be: face-to-face groups run by trained peers which focus on emotional support, sharing experiences, education and specific activities such as exercise or social activities; one-to-one support offered face-to-face or by telephone; and online platforms such as discussion forums. |
| Accession Number | CPA-150707003 E |
| Classmark | IQ: IT: TOA: D:F:5HH: 64A |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|