Influence of single peer interventions on the recovery attitude of persons with a psychiatric disability.

Objective: This study examined the influence of single peer to peer interventions on participants' recovery attitudes.

Methods: Following a 40-hour training, pairs of individuals with a psychiatric disability offered a session (2.5 hour) in outpatient and residential psychiatric institutions. These peer to peer interventions aimed at inspiring and contributing to participants' recovery process, by introducing them to constituent parts of the concept Recovery. Thirteen of the peer interventions were evaluated by measuring participants' recovery attitudes before (N = 145), just after (N = 115) and at 6 months postintervention (N = 53) using the Recovery Attitudes Questionnaire (RAQ7) and the Recovery Process Inventory (RPI).

Results: Wilcoxon tests demonstrated that individuals participating in a peer intervention felt significantly more certain that Recovery is possible (factor 'Recovery is possible') just after the intervention (p = 0.004), but not 6 months later; likewise, the perception of the difficulty of recovery in spite of a mental illness (factor 'Recovery is difficult and differs') was significantly lower 6 months later (p = 0.016), but not from pre to just after.

Conclusions: The statistically significant effect of a single recovery-oriented peer intervention on participants' attitude that recovery is possible was not sustainable. These results suggest a possible higher sustainability of repeated or longer-lasting peer interventions.