Mental health professionals’ knowledge wishes and reluctance regarding peer support workers: a regional survey

Objective: Peer-suppport workers (PSW) are people recovering from a psychological disorder who use their knowledge from experience to assist other such patients. by. The development of this practice in France is still recent. A proper evaluation of their integration remains partially lacking, which may be a hindrance to the creation of new PSW positions. This study aimed to explore the level of knowledge of recovery and the role of PSW to better understand the wishes of mental health teams regarding their hiring as well as to identify the barriers that remain to their integration. Method: We conducted an observational study consisting of an online survey based on a standardized questionnaire sent to psychiatrists and psychiatric trainees in the public mental health services of the city of Lyon, France. Seventy two people participated in the study with date being collected from June to September 2020. Results: The majority of the participants were aware that peer support could be a professional practice. It was described that such a role could not be effectively replaced by another mental health professional trained in recovery, and the main benefit expressed for mental health professionals to work with a PSW was the sharing of experience. There was some reluctance, particularly regarding participation in multidisciplinary team meetings or access to a consumer’s medical records. Conclusion: Knowledge of PSW appears to be relatively good among psychiatrists and psychiatric residents. Although there is some reluctance to integrate PSW into a healthcare team, there seems to be a consensus about their value. The insights gained from our study may help to focus awareness strategies about professional PSW.