Carer Peer Workers in Borderline Personality Services: Providing Reciprocal Understanding and Personal Strategies to Family Members

Table 1

Characteristics of peer support provided to family members and consumers.

	Total (n = 16); n (%) or M (SD)
Types of peer support provided
Shared experiences of social and emotional distress	13 (81.3)
Shared personal use of skills and coping strategies	14 (87.5)
Information about services (e.g., psychologist)	8 (50.0)
Information about resources (e.g., websites)	14 (87.5)
Social activities (e.g., exercising)	4 (25.0)
Education about BPD	13 (81.3)
Number of meetings with carer peer worker mean (SD), range	10.9 (13.9), 1–50
Frequency of time spent with carer peer worker
Multiple times a week	1 (6.3)
Once a week	6 (37.5)
Once every two weeks	1 (6.3)
Once a month	6 (37.5)
Other	2 (12.5)
How time spent with carer peer worker was chosen
Carer peer worker decided	3 (18.8)
Family member/consumer decided	2 (12.5)
Carer peer worker and family member/consumer decided together	9 (56.3)
Group meetings were scheduled by organisation	2 (12.5)