Towards a Scope of Practice for Peer Support Workers in Addictions: A Community-Based Study Using Qualitative Description.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify how Peer Support Workers (PSWs) understand their scope of practice, to provide greater clarity for PSWs working in addiction care with interprofessional teams. We conducted semi-structured interviews with PSWs and analysed the results using qualitative description. We interviewed 17 PSWs from a variety of backgrounds. We identified five descriptive themes that illustrate how PSWs delineated their scope of practice: building relationships with clients, therapeutic engagement with clients, system navigation, providing supplies to clients, and professional development. PSWs had a clear sense of their scope of practice and how they could be most effective, despite a lack of recognition of this scope in their workplaces. By creating a preliminary description for a PSW scope of practice, we hope that PSWs and nurses can work together to support the PSW professional role, enhancing patient outcomes.