Benefits and costs of peer support for parents of disabled children

hat are the benefits and costs of providing peer support to parents of children with disability?

The first phase of the project was a systematic review of the existing literature on providing peer support to parents and carers of children with a disability in a broader context, including one-to-one and group interventions for parents of children with any chronic health condition. The second phase was an evaluation of the two peer support services offered by Face2Face in Devon and Cornwall.

Face2Face is a national, charitable network that offers peer support to parents of disabled children from trained befrienders. The evaluation included a costing study and qualitative research. In the costing study we investigated what resources are needed to provide the service. In the qualitative research, we wanted to hear people’s views and experiences of peer support. We conducted interviews with parents who had given or received support through Face2Face and a group of relevant health and social care professionals who might refer to the service. We sought to understand more about whether people think peer support works and how, who benefits from support and what are the benefits? 

This research was funded by the NIHR through PenCLAHRC.

For more information, please get in touch.