Cronise Rita, Teixeira Carina, Rogers E Sally, Harrington Steve
International Association of Peer Supporters.
Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Boston University.
Psychiatr Rehabil J. 2016 Sep;39(3):211-21. doi: 10.1037/prj0000222.
Given the burgeoning role of peer specialists in the mental health workforce, more information is needed about their work roles, tasks, settings, training, compensation, and work satisfaction.
Using both purposive and snowball sampling, the authors recruited a national sample of individuals employed as peer specialists and a variety of other peer provider positions. They conducted an online survey to query respondents about various aspects of their work life. A total of 608 participants completed the survey, of which 597 responses were usable for these analyses.
Results suggest that individuals in the United States identifying themselves as peer specialists (or similar titles) work in a wide variety of settings and spend the majority of their work time providing direct peer support. However, a significant number of individuals also reported performing nondirect peer support tasks such as administrative work, teaching skills, and systems-level advocacy. Average compensation ranged from $10 to $20 per hour. Peer specialists reported a significant amount of satisfaction with their work but still perceive a lack of recognition for their roles.
Results of this survey provide critical information about the job characteristics of peer specialists and data that should be informative for mental health authorities as they address the needs of this workforce. However, our findings also suggest that ambiguity remains regarding the roles, tasks, and training of peer specialists, which could benefit from further study that would help to clarify the unique role of these professionals within the mental health arena. (PsycINFO Database Record
鉴于同伴专家在心理健康服务人员队伍中所起的作用日益凸显，我们需要更多关于他们的工作角色、任务、工作环境、培训、薪酬以及工作满意度的信息。
作者采用立意抽样和滚雪球抽样的方法，招募了一个全国性的样本，其中包括受雇为同伴专家的个体以及各种其他同伴服务提供者职位。他们进行了一项在线调查，询问受访者工作生活的各个方面。共有608名参与者完成了调查，其中597份回复可用于这些分析。
结果表明，在美国，自认为是同伴专家（或类似头衔）的个体在各种各样的环境中工作，并且他们大部分工作时间都在提供直接的同伴支持。然而，也有相当数量的个体报告称他们还执行非直接的同伴支持任务，如行政工作、技能教学和系统层面的宣传。平均薪酬为每小时10美元至20美元。同伴专家对自己的工作表示相当满意，但仍觉得自己的角色未得到认可。
本次调查结果提供了关于同伴专家工作特征的关键信息，以及对心理健康管理部门在满足这支服务人员队伍需求时具有参考价值的数据。然而，我们的研究结果还表明，同伴专家的角色、任务和培训仍存在模糊之处，这可能需要进一步研究来帮助阐明这些专业人员在心理健康领域的独特作用。（《心理学文摘数据库记录》
