TY - JOUR
T1 - Participants' employment status and experiences in the year after the Experienced Involvement training
AU - Hegedüs, Anna
AU - Seidel, Elena
AU - Steinauer, Regine
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - BACKGROUND Peer support workers (PSWs) are an emerging workforce within the Swiss mental health system. The 'Experienced Involvement' (EX-IN) training programmes prepare and certify individuals who have experienced mental health problems to work as PSWs. AIMS This study examined the influence of EX-IN training on participants' employment status and their experiences in the year after training. METHOD We employed quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were collected at baseline, immediately after completion and at 1 year post-training. Additionally, individual narrative interviews were conducted with 10 participants at 1 year post-training. RESULTS At 1 year of completion, the majority of participants were in paid employment. Difficulties included unclear PSW roles. The qualitative analyses revealed the following categories: 'Evolving from the patient role despite experiencing effects or consequences of mental illness', 'Feeling welcome and being confronted with conflicting expectations', 'Helping others while being needy at the same time' and 'Doing something worthwhile and the fear of failure'. CONCLUSION Clear role descriptions, well-defined expectations, team preparation, acknowledgement of vulnerabilities and institution-level support PSWs are important to safeguard both PSWs and service users by minimising the destabilisation risk. Future EX-IN training graduates can benefit from the establishment of remunerated PSW roles in psychiatric services.
AB - BACKGROUND Peer support workers (PSWs) are an emerging workforce within the Swiss mental health system. The 'Experienced Involvement' (EX-IN) training programmes prepare and certify individuals who have experienced mental health problems to work as PSWs. AIMS This study examined the influence of EX-IN training on participants' employment status and their experiences in the year after training. METHOD We employed quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were collected at baseline, immediately after completion and at 1 year post-training. Additionally, individual narrative interviews were conducted with 10 participants at 1 year post-training. RESULTS At 1 year of completion, the majority of participants were in paid employment. Difficulties included unclear PSW roles. The qualitative analyses revealed the following categories: 'Evolving from the patient role despite experiencing effects or consequences of mental illness', 'Feeling welcome and being confronted with conflicting expectations', 'Helping others while being needy at the same time' and 'Doing something worthwhile and the fear of failure'. CONCLUSION Clear role descriptions, well-defined expectations, team preparation, acknowledgement of vulnerabilities and institution-level support PSWs are important to safeguard both PSWs and service users by minimising the destabilisation risk. Future EX-IN training graduates can benefit from the establishment of remunerated PSW roles in psychiatric services.
U2 - 10.1177/0020764015623969
DO - 10.1177/0020764015623969
M3 - Article
SN - 0020-7640
VL - 62
SP - 214
EP - 220
JO - The International journal of social psychiatry
JF - The International journal of social psychiatry
IS - 3
ER -