New report: Mapping peer support for women’s health in Scotland

The report maps and analyses the delivery of peer support for women’s health across Scotland.

The ALLIANCE report ‘Mapping peer support for women’s health in Scotland: Insight and impact across practice and policy’ explores the delivery of women’s peer support across Scotland’s third sector, and outlines steps needed to sustain and strengthen this work. It draws on a national mapping of 100 peer support services and in-depth interviews with peer workers and practitioners across various settings.

The ALLIANCE delivers a women’s health programme, in support of the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan. In delivering this programme and speaking to women about their experiences, the benefits of peer support have emerged as a common theme. The ALLIANCE wanted to better understand the scale of delivery of peer support for women’s health in Scotland, and showcase the impact that this model can have on women’s health outcomes. This works connects to our established role in facilitating conversation around community-based support for women’s health via our Conversation Café toolkit for women’s health, and the positive impact we have noticed in those that have used the toolkit. The recommendations from this report will help to inform our ongoing work in raising awareness of the benefits of community-based health initiatives that centre lived experience.

“You can’t rush trust, it’s about showing up, not fixing.” – Interviewee

Through conversations with practitioners and an extensive survey of peer support services (accessible via this online map), the report highlights the unique strengths of peer support in flexible, trauma-informed and relationship-based care for women that is often embedded in communities and responsive to local needs. The report highlights how peer support works in innovative and creative ways to empower women to make decisions about their health and better understand their options, and centre lived experience.

“It’s not just lived experience in delivery—it’s in how we train people, how we do policy, how we think about leadership” – Interviewee

The report also expands on the challenges for sustainable and impactful delivery of peer support, and makes a series of recommendations to funders, commissioners and policy makers to strengthen the impact of peer support in Scotland, and invest in its growth:

• Embed peer support in planning and commissioning
• Provide multi-year, stable funding for peer support initiatives
• Fund lived experience leadership and progression
• Adapt evaluation frameworks to reflect relational outcomes
• Reduce administrative and funding barriers for third sector organisations
• Support the development of a national peer support network

The full report is linked at the bottom of the page, or you can find it here.

This report was produced as part of the dissertation placement of Sarah Tomany from the MSc Health and Social Policy at the University of Strathclyde. You can read Sarah’s own reflections on the research in her blog post.

If you have any questions about this research then you can get in touch with the ALLIANCE’s Women’s Health programme at the following email whp@alliance-scotland.org.uk

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