What is peer support? Amidst great variation worldwide, Peers for Progress has promoted defining peer support (PS) by the “key functions” it provides. In a community PS program under the Shanghai Integration Model, key functions were measured by 15 items capturing participants’ reports of 1) Availability and Ongoing Support, 2) Assistance in Daily Management, 3) Social and Emotional Support, 4) Linkage to Clinical/Community Resources, 5) “Being There,” e.g., “people in the community diabetes program are there for you.”
The key functions documented implementation in 12 Intervention Communities (ICs) relative to 4 Comparison Communities (CCs) as well as relationships with outcomes and mediation of intervention effects.
At follow up, ICs scored higher than CCs on each of the 5 individual functions and their total, all, ps < 0.001. On 5-point scales, mean differences between ICs and CCs ranged from 0.74 to 0.81.
Individual functions and total scores across the key functions were correlated with improvements in HbA1c, all p-levels < 0.001. Similarly, each of the 5 and their total were also correlated with improvements in a 4-item measure of diabetes distress (ps ≤ 0.023) and the PHQ8 measure of depressed mood (ps < 0.001). These controlled for gender, age, duration, and education level, as well as corresponding baseline measures.
Regression analysis indicated the total score for the 5 key functions mediated the relationship between the intervention, IC vs CC, and improvements in HbA1c, diabetes distress, and PHQ8.
The key functions identify features of PS that are recognized by program participants and help define PS as they distinguish PS from control conditions. The key functions are correlated with program benefits, and the total of reported key functions mediates the relationship between intervention and clinical/quality-of-life benefits.
Y. Liu: None. C. Cai: None. X. Wu: None. P.Y. Tang: None. M.M. Coufal: None. L. Shen: None. E.B. Fisher: None. W. Jia: None.
Shanghai Key Discipline of Public Health Grants Award No. GWVI-11.1-20, and Shanghai Municipal Grants Award No. GWIV-3.1 to Professor Weiping Jia as principal investigator, Shanghai Municipal Health Commission ôHealth Promotion Talentö grant No.JKKPYC-2022-12 to Dr. Yuexing Liu as principal investigator, and by grants from The Merck Foundation and from Sanofi China, both to Professor Edwin Fisher as principal investigator, and by the UNC-Michigan Communnity, Family, and Peer Support Core of the Michigan Center for Diabetes Translational Research, P30 DK092926.
