School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Child Care Health Dev. 2020 Nov;46(6):667-681. doi: 10.1111/cch.12804. Epub 2020 Sep 3.
Youth with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often require additional supports during the period of transition to from high school to post-secondary education or career paths. Peer mentorship (PM) programmes create opportunities to support youth with ASD in identifying their personal, academic and career goals after graduating from high school; however, there is limited insight about the components of these programmes that are valued by both participants and peer mentors and that are perceived to contribute to the overall success of a programme in achieving their goals. Our objective was to identify, describe and synthesize the components of PM programmes valued by youth with ASD and their peer mentors, as well as to document their experiences in these transitional support services. A meta-ethnography was conducted to synthesize qualitative and mixed methods studies of PM programmes for youth with ASD. A systematic search of seven databases yielded 142 nonduplicate articles. Data analysis and synthesis involved (1) extraction of raw data; (2) extraction of study authors' interpretations, followed by inductive coding; (3) synthesis of key themes and (4) schematic diagram development to illustrate the relationship of themes. Ten studies of PM programmes from Canada (2), United States (4), Australia (3) and United Kingdom (1) were included. Extracted data reflected experiences of 131 mentees and 82 mentors. The essential programme components identified were (1) mentorship, (2) skill building, (3) peer group and (4) facilitating transition. PM characterized by clear communication and connection between mentors and mentees was valuable to the success of the programme. Peer mentors played an essential role to facilitate the positive experiences that mentees had with programme components, including interactions with peer groups. Successful PM programmes created a safe environment for mentees to practice skills and helped mentees gain confidence to expand their roles to take leadership in their learning.
患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的年轻人在从高中过渡到高等教育或职业道路时通常需要额外的支持。朋辈导师制（PM）计划为支持 ASD 年轻人在高中毕业后确定个人、学术和职业目标提供了机会；然而，对于这些计划中参与者和朋辈导师认为有价值的、有助于计划实现其目标的整体成功的组成部分，了解甚少。我们的目标是确定、描述和综合 ASD 年轻人及其朋辈导师所重视的 PM 计划的组成部分，并记录他们在这些过渡支持服务中的体验。我们采用元民族志方法来综合 ASD 年轻人 PM 计划的定性和混合方法研究。对七个数据库进行了系统搜索，共获得 142 篇非重复文章。数据分析和综合包括：（1）提取原始数据；（2）提取研究作者的解释，然后进行归纳编码；（3）综合关键主题；（4）制定示意图以说明主题之间的关系。纳入了来自加拿大（2 项）、美国（4 项）、澳大利亚（3 项）和英国（1 项）的 10 项 PM 计划研究。提取的数据反映了 131 名学员和 82 名导师的经验。确定的基本计划组成部分是（1）导师制、（2）技能培养、（3）朋辈群体和（4）促进过渡。导师和学员之间沟通清晰、联系紧密的 PM 对计划的成功具有重要意义。朋辈导师在促进学员与计划组成部分的积极互动方面发挥了至关重要的作用，包括与朋辈群体的互动。成功的 PM 计划为学员创造了一个安全的环境来练习技能，并帮助学员建立信心，扩大他们的角色，在学习中发挥领导作用。
