A realist change model for community-based perinatal mental health peer support from peer volunteers.
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| Title: | A realist change model for community-based perinatal mental health peer support from peer volunteers. |
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| Authors: | McLeish, Jenny (AUTHOR), McCourt, Christine (AUTHOR), Ayers, Susan (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Journal of Reproductive & Infant Psychology. Jun2026, Vol. 44 Issue 3, p733-754. 22p. |
| Subjects: | Perinatal mood & anxiety disorders, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Mental health, Research funding, Qualitative research, Affinity groups, Interviewing, Pregnant women, Judgment sampling, Descriptive statistics, Postpartum depression, Sound recordings, Obsessive-compulsive disorder, Psychology of mothers, Research methodology, Medical coding, Social support |
| Geographic Terms: | England |
| Abstract: | Aims: To investigate what it is about community-based perinatal mental health peer support from trained volunteers that works, for whom, in what circumstances, in what respects, and why; and build a change model that includes positive and negative mechanisms and outcomes. Methods: Realist evaluation methods based on semi-structured interviews were used to create a change model for a third sector programme in England. Results: Mothers who received peer support (n = 20), peer support volunteers (n = 27), and programme staff (n = 9) were interviewed. Positive impact on mothers was primarily based on feeling understood and accepted, social comparison (including normalisation, hope, and gaining perspective) and sharing non-directive information from experiential knowledge. Negative impact on mothers was based on negative social comparison, or absence of key peer support mechanisms. Mothers were affected in different ways, depending on individual contexts: their backgrounds, personalities, social situations, resources, experiences, beliefs, and needs. Some different mechanisms were present in one-to-one and group situations. All participants considered the benefits of peer support to greatly outweigh the risks. Conclusion: Individual contextual factors affect the multiple mechanisms through which mental health peer support can improve mothers' emotional wellbeing and social participation. Peer support has potential risks as well as benefits, which can be mitigated. Programmes could use this understanding of how contexts and mechanisms interact to produce peer support outcomes to improve training for peer support volunteers and to design future evaluations that take into account diversity of peer support experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Journal of Reproductive & Infant Psychology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
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| Abstract: | Aims: To investigate what it is about community-based perinatal mental health peer support from trained volunteers that works, for whom, in what circumstances, in what respects, and why; and build a change model that includes positive and negative mechanisms and outcomes. Methods: Realist evaluation methods based on semi-structured interviews were used to create a change model for a third sector programme in England. Results: Mothers who received peer support (n = 20), peer support volunteers (n = 27), and programme staff (n = 9) were interviewed. Positive impact on mothers was primarily based on feeling understood and accepted, social comparison (including normalisation, hope, and gaining perspective) and sharing non-directive information from experiential knowledge. Negative impact on mothers was based on negative social comparison, or absence of key peer support mechanisms. Mothers were affected in different ways, depending on individual contexts: their backgrounds, personalities, social situations, resources, experiences, beliefs, and needs. Some different mechanisms were present in one-to-one and group situations. All participants considered the benefits of peer support to greatly outweigh the risks. Conclusion: Individual contextual factors affect the multiple mechanisms through which mental health peer support can improve mothers' emotional wellbeing and social participation. Peer support has potential risks as well as benefits, which can be mitigated. Programmes could use this understanding of how contexts and mechanisms interact to produce peer support outcomes to improve training for peer support volunteers and to design future evaluations that take into account diversity of peer support experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 02646838 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/02646838.2024.2416448 |
