What is it like to participate in a peer support group established to reduce loneliness and social isolation of older people? An exploration of the experiences from the perspectives of group participants and volunteer facilitators.

Miranda Quinney, Anne Fothergill, Juping Yu, Rachel Taylor, Antonis Kousoulis

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePosterpeer-review

    Abstract

    In 2019- 2022 The Mental Health Foundation (MHF), a third sector organisation, will deliver Standing Together Cymru (STC), a facilitated peer support group intervention established to reduce loneliness and social isolation for older (50+) people living in retirement housing sites.

    There will be 30 STC groups across South East Wales. Each group will run weekly and initalliy be facilitated by two project staff members. Volunteers (referred to as peer support workers, “PSW”s) will be trained to co-facilitate groups. PSWs may be group members. When the project staff withdraw, each group will be sustained by PSWs.

    The MHF has granted the research team access to members of the STC groups and to the PSWs to conduct a PhD Study. The Study is separate from the MHF’s evaluation of STC. The Study seeks to describe the experiences and motivations of taking part in STC from the perspectives of both service users and volunteer facilitators. The research team is particularly interested in the experiences of group members who volunteer to become PSWs.

    Using a phenomenological design, the Study will describe the experience of taking part in a group by analysing the transcripts of one- to-one, face- to-face interviews conducted with 8 to 12 participants. The first interview will take place in the early stages of the establishment of the group, the second towards the end of the MHF facilitation and the final interview six months after completion of the MHF facilitation.
    Original languageEnglish
    Publication statusPublished - 10 Jul 2019
    EventBritish Society of Gerontology 48th Annual Conference: Emerging Researchers in Ageing - University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
    Duration: 10 Jul 201912 Jul 2019

    Conference

    ConferenceBritish Society of Gerontology 48th Annual Conference
    Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
    CityLiverpool
    Period10/07/1912/07/19

    Keywords

    • Loneliness
    • Peer Support Groups
    • Peer Support Workers

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