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The Effectiveness of Peer Support in Personal and Clinical Recovery: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Cecilie Høgh Egmose1, Chalotte Heinsvig Poulsen1, Carsten Hjorthøj1
1Copenhagen Research Center for Mental Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen (Høgh Egmose, Heinsvig Poulsen, Hjorthøj, Skriver Mundy, Hellström, Nørgaard Nielsen, Falgaard Eplov); Department of Public Health, Section of Epidemiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen (Hjorthøj); Mental Health Services, Region of Southern Denmark, Odense (Korsbek); Peer Partnership Association, Social Network Association, Copenhagen (Serup Rasmussen).
Peer support shows a small positive effect on personal recovery from mental illness, particularly when integrated with hospital services. More high-quality research is needed to confirm efficacy across diverse settings and interventions.
Area of Science:
- Mental Health Research
- Psychiatry
- Recovery Studies
Background:
- Peer support is recognized for aiding personal recovery in mental illness.
- The impact of peer support across various mental illnesses and organizational settings requires further clarification.
Approach:
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of 49 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 12,477 participants with any mental illness.
- Evaluated the effectiveness of peer support for personal and clinical recovery, considering different service delivery settings.
Key Points:
- Peer support generally yielded a small positive effect on personal recovery (SMD=0.20) and reduced anxiety symptoms (SMD=-0.21).
- The most significant impact on personal recovery was observed when peer support was added to mental health hospital services.
- Peer-designed, community-delivered interventions showed a modest effect on self-advocacy; online peer support had a small, nonsignificant effect on personal recovery.
Conclusions:
- Peer support integrated with hospital services demonstrated the most notable effect on personal recovery from mental illness.
- Further high-quality RCTs are necessary to investigate peer support efficacy, focusing on comparable co-created interventions and clear mechanisms of change.
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