Learning from the experience of peer support facilitators and study nurses in diabetes peer support: a qualitative study

Objectives

We report on the experiences of peer support facilitators and study nurses who participated in a large trial of peer support for type 2 diabetes. The support was led by volunteer peer support facilitators, who were trained in overcoming barriers to diabetes care, motivational interviewing, listening skills and setting up and running group support sessions. There is currently a distinct lack of qualitative evidence on what works in peer support.

Methods

The peer support facilitators and study nurses completed open-answer questionnaire items on what worked well and less well, problems encountered and how they were resolved, group dynamics and suggestions for improvement. We also collected data from end-of-study meetings. Inductive thematic analysis was used to allow the emergent themes to be strongly based in the data.

Findings: We find that process factors, peer support facilitator and peer characteristics, their relationships with each other and group dynamics are all fundamental for effective peer support. Sustaining and ending support also emerged as a key theme.

Discussion

Given the increasing interest in peer support, these findings will be useful to those interested in running groups in the future. Training programmes should help peer support facilitators develop confidence whilst emphasising that peer support ideally entails an equal, democratic dynamic. More attention is needed on to how to end groups appropriately.