Attitudes of Peer Support Workers towards the Medical Model: A Qualitative Study from the Viewpoints of Peer Support Workers and Mental Health Staff

Attitudes of Peer Support Workers are generally expected to be grounded in recovery philosophy. They may encounter resistance from Mental Health Workers, which tend to be more closely aligned with the medical model. We aim to investigate how PSWs relate in clinical contexts to some main aspects of medical model-based attitudes. This research is part of the larger ImpPeer-Psy5 project, involving 57 interviews with PSWs, MHWs, and service users. The findings presented here were derived from a qualitative sub-study with 5 more interviews and one focus group with MHWs. Some PSWs view psychiatric diagnoses as helpful for their own recovery and interactions with clients, while others find them reductive and stigmatizing. Similarly, PSWs hold varying opinions on psychiatric drugs, with some seeing them as beneficial and necessary, while others have critical views. MHWs' expectations on PSWs may not always align with their attitudes.