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Understanding Users’ Perspectives of Psychosocial Mechanisms Underpinning Peer Support Work in Chile

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Abstract

This study explores the beliefs and attitudes about the psychosocial mechanisms of peer support work among users who participated in Critical Time Intervention-Task Shifting (CTI-TS), which tested the acceptability and feasibility of a peer support work model to improve community-based mental health care for individuals with psychosis in Latin America. We conducted a secondary analysis of 15 in-depth interviews with CTI-TS participants in Chile, using the framework method and defined the framework domains based on five major mechanisms of peer support work identified by a recent literature review. The analysis revealed that users’ perceptions of peer support work mechanisms were strongly shaped by personal motivations, beliefs about professional hierarchies, familial support, and the Chilean mental health system’s incipient recovery orientation. The findings underscore the importance of adopting culturally tailored strategies to promote peer support work, such as involving mental health professionals and fostering equal-powered relationships between PSWs and users.

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Funding

This study was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (U19MH095718 and U19MH095699 and R01MH122851). PhuongThao D. Le is funded by a grant from U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH103210). The views expressed are those of the authors and may not necessarily represent the views of the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institutes of Health, or the Department of Health and Human Services.

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Author notes

  1. PhuongThao D. Le and Martín Agrest shared first authorship.

  2. Lawrence H. Yang, Rubén Alvarado and Ezra S. Susser shared senior authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Global Public Health, New York University, New York, USA

    PhuongThao D. Le & Lawrence H. Yang

  2. Proyecto Suma, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Martín Agrest, Joaquín Castro-Valdez & Norma Geffner

  3. New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA

    Franco Mascayano & Ezra S. Susser

  4. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Franco Mascayano, Charissa Pratt, Eliecer Valencia, Lawrence H. Yang & Ezra S. Susser

  5. Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Saloni Dev, Tanvi Kankan, Gabriella Dishy, Silvia Alves-Nishioka & Lawrence H. Yang

  6. Department of Behavioural Science and Health, University College London, London, UK

    Thamara Tapia-Muñoz

  7. School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Eric Tapia, Sara Schilling, María José Jorquera & Rubén Alvarado

  8. Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, USA

    Josefina Toso-Salman

  9. National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    LeShawndra N. Price

  10. Center for the Advancement of Critical Time Intervention, Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Sarah Conover

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  1. PhuongThao D. Le
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  17. Sarah Conover
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  18. Eliecer Valencia
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  19. Lawrence H. Yang
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All authors contributed to the analysis included in the article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to PhuongThao D. Le.

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Le, P.D., Agrest, M., Mascayano, F. et al. Understanding Users’ Perspectives of Psychosocial Mechanisms Underpinning Peer Support Work in Chile. Community Ment Health J 58, 111–120 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-021-00800-1

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