Peer Supporters' Experience of Supporting Cancer Patients: A Meta-synthesis

With the widespread use of peer support in the cancer field, more and more cancer survivors are becoming supporters. However, they may bear a huge psychological burden in the peer support project. There has been little effort to analyze supporters' experiences from a meta-perspective.

The aims of this study were to review the literature on the experience of patients serving as peer supporters, integrate qualitative data to explore the experiences of supporters participating in peer support programs, and provide suggestions for future researchers.

China Knowledge Network, Wanfang Database, China Biomedical Literature Database, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycINFO were searched. Titles, abstracts, and full texts were screened. Included articles (n = 10) underwent data extraction, the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tool for qualitative researches (2016) quality evaluation, and thematic synthesis.

The literature ultimately included 10 studies from which 29 themes were distilled and grouped into 2 main categories: benefits and challenges of peer support for supporters.

Peer supporters will not only gain social support, growth, and recovery but also experience various challenges when providing peer support. Both supporters' and patients' experiences of participating in peer support programs deserve the attention of researchers. Researchers need to be rigorous in controlling the implementation of peer support programs to help supporters gain and overcome challenges.

Future researchers can use study findings to better develop peer support programs. More peer support projects are needed to explore a standardized peer support training guide.