Identifying key roles and responsibilities of peer workers in behavioral health services: A scoping review

Abstract

Objective: The roles and responsibilities of peer workers (PWs) are not well articulated. This scoping review aims to systematically identify and describe the roles of PWs in outpatient, community based mental health and substance use services, and compare their roles and responsibilities across these service settings METHODS: The scoping review was a priori developed and implemented according to the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology, which includes stating the review objectives, conducting a three-step search method, and charting the results.

Results: Forty-four peer reviewed manuscripts were included in the review. PWs were used more often in mental health (n = 27) than substance use (n = 10) programs. Peers adopted a wide range of skills. Across program contexts, peers were frequently used as a source of informal support or mentorship and care coordination. Mental health programs often used peers to deliver manualized interventions, while substance use programs more frequently leveraged PWs to facilitate service linkage and engagement.

Conclusion: Roles of peers differed between substance use and mental health programs, reflecting significant diversity in how peers are being integrated into the behavioral health workforce.

Practice implications: Peer certification programs must balance consistency with the wide range of skills required of this workforce.

Keywords: Behavioral health services; Behavioral health workforce; Peer workers.