Inclusive Healthy Communities

Research Library

Outlined below, we provide Peer-Reviewed research supporting our Empowered Connection: Peer Support Program, serving clients 21-and over with physical, mental, neurological, and/or developmental disability. These free-full text research articles from (2020-2025) include systematic reviews, meta-analyses, qualitative studies, randomized controlled trials, program evaluations and implementation studies.

To view each research article go to https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/, and in the search bar, copy and paste each bulleted research or reference, and click “Enter” on your keyboard. The Free Full text PDF box is on the right of the webpage.

Foundational Evidence & Effectiveness

Smit D, Miguel C, Vrijsen JN, Groeneweg B, Spijker J, Cuijpers P. The effectiveness of peer support for individuals with mental illness: systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychol Med. 2023;53(11):5332-5341. doi:10.1017/S0033291722002422

Puschner B, Nakku J, Hiltensperger R, et al. Effectiveness of peer support for people with severe mental health conditions in high-, middle- and low-income countries: multicentre randomised controlled trial. Br J Psychiatry. Published online June 27, 2025. doi:10.1192/bjp.2025.10299

Cooper RE, Saunders KRK, Greenburgh A, et al. The effectiveness, implementation, and experiences of peer support approaches for mental health: a systematic umbrella review. BMC Med. 2024;22(1):72. Published 2024 Feb 29. doi:10.1186/s12916-024-03260-y

Eddie D, O’Connor JB, George SS, et al. Peer Recovery Support Services and Recovery Coaching for Substance Use Disorder: A systematic review. Current Addiction Reports. 2025;12(1). doi:10.1007/s40429-025-00645-8

Digital & Online Peer Support

Yeo G, Fortuna KL, Lansford JE, Rudolph KD. The effects of digital peer support interventions on physical and mental health: a review and meta-analysis. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2025;34:e9. Published 2025 Feb 13. doi:10.1017/S2045796024000854

Yuan S, Davidson G, Best P. Online mental health peer support: A systematic scoping review of theoretical mechanisms of effect. BMC Digital Health. 2025;3(1). doi:10.1186/s44247-025-00205-0

Kadakia A, Preum SM, Bohm AR, Fortuna KL. Investigating the Fidelity of Digital Peer Support: A Preliminary Approach using Natural Language Processing to Scale High-Fidelity Digital Peer Support. Biomed Eng Syst Technol Int Jt Conf BIOSTEC Revis Sel Pap. 2023;2023:581-592. doi:10.5220/0011776500003414

Mirbahaeddin E, Chreim S. Transcending technology boundaries and maintaining sense of community in virtual mental health peer support: a qualitative study with service providers and users. BMC Health Serv Res. 2024;24(1):510. Published 2024 Apr 24. doi:10.1186/s12913-024-10943-y

Smit D, Vrijsen JN, Broekman T, Groeneweg B, Spijker J. User Engagement Within an Online Peer Support Community (Depression Connect) and Recovery-Related Changes in Empowerment: Longitudinal User Survey. JMIR Form Res. 2022;6(11):e39912. Published 2022 Nov 2. doi:10.2196/39912

Hossain SN, Jaglal SB, Shepherd J, et al. Web-Based Peer Support Interventions for Adults Living With Chronic Conditions: Scoping Review. JMIR Rehabil Assist Technol. 2021;8(2):e14321. Published 2021 May 25. doi:10.2196/14321

Peer Support Across Populations

Chronic Mental Health Conditions

Ojeda VD, Jones N, Munson MR, Berliant E, Gilmer TP. Roles of peer specialists and use of mental health services among youth with serious mental illness. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2021;15(4):914-921. doi:10.1111/eip.13036

Hiller-Venegas S, Gilmer TP, Jones N, Munson MR, Ojeda VD. Clients’ Perspectives Regarding Peer Support Providers’ Roles and Support for Client Access to and Use of Publicly Funded Mental Health Programs Serving Transition-Age Youth in Two Southern California Counties. J Behav Health Serv Res. 2022;49(3):364-384. doi:10.1007/s11414-022-09792-6

Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities

Pfeiffer B, Hallock T, Tomczuk L, Kramer J. Peer Support Provided by People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Rapid Scoping Review to Develop a Toolkit for Inclusive Research. Social Sciences. 2024; 13(1):47. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13010047

Older Adults

Tang JPS, Liu T, Lu S, et al. ‘It was the deepest level of companionship’: peer-to-peer experience of supporting community-dwelling older people with depression – a qualitative study. BMC Geriatr. 2022;22(1):443. Published 2022 May 19. doi:10.1186/s12877-022-03121-4

Middleton R, Metusela C, Marriott-Statham K, Ferguson C, Davidson PM. The engagement of older people living with chronic lung disease in a peer support community-based exercise programme: A qualitative study. Health Expect. 2023;26(6):2409-2417. doi:10.1111/hex.13847

Hossain SN, Jaglal SB, Shepherd J, et al. Web-Based Peer Support Interventions for Adults Living With Chronic Conditions: Scoping Review. JMIR Rehabil Assist Technol. 2021;8(2):e14321. Published 2021 May 25. doi:10.2196/14321

Veterans

Richard BO, Abadi MH, Drake CD, Rychener D, Bauer R. “A reinstilled hope that they can change”: Facilitator perspectives on a self-care and health promotion peer group program for veterans. Front Public Health. 2023;10:968281. Published 2023 Jan 5. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.968281

Moore M, Palmer JK, Cerel J, Ruocco K. Growth and Hope after loss: How TAPS facilitates posttraumatic growth in those grieving military deaths. Front Psychol. 2022;13:996041. Published 2022 Dec 7. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.996041

Implementation & Systems Integration

Gillard S, Foster R, White S, et al. Implementing peer support into practice in mental health services: a qualitative comparative case study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2024;24(1):1050. Published 2024 Sep 11. doi:10.1186/s12913-024-11447-5

Reeves V, McIntyre H, Loughhead M, Halpin MA, Procter N. Actions targeting the integration of peer workforces in mental health organisations: a mixed-methods systematic review. BMC Psychiatry. 2024;24(1):211. Published 2024 Mar 18. doi:10.1186/s12888-024-05664-9

Ramesh M, Charles A, Grayzman A, et al. Societal and organisational influences on implementation of mental health peer support work in low-income and high-income settings: a qualitative focus group study. BMJ Open. 2023;13(8):e058724. Published 2023 Aug 23. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-058724

Lessard É, O’Brien N, Panaite AC, et al. Can you be a peer if you don’t share the same health or social conditions? A qualitative study on peer integration in a primary care setting. BMC Prim Care. 2024;25(1):298. Published 2024 Aug 12. doi:10.1186/s12875-024-02548-5

Sinclair A, Gillieatt S, Fernandes C, Mahboub L. Inclusion as Assimilation, Integration, or Co-optation? A Post-Structural Analysis of Inclusion as Produced Through Mental Health Research on Peer Support. Qual Health Res. 2023;33(6):543-555. doi:10.1177/10497323231163735

Gu M, Wang Y, Shi Y, et al. Impact of a group-based intervention program on physical activity and health-related outcomes in worksite settings. BMC Public Health. 2020;20(1):935. Published 2020 Jun 15. doi:10.1186/s12889-020-09036-2

Wittleder S, Wong L, Ruan AM, et al. Peer Coaching to Support Weight Management in Primary Care: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(9):e2529136. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.29136

Mechanisms & Lived Experience

Le PD, Agrest M, Mascayano F, et al. Understanding Users’ Perspectives of Psychosocial Mechanisms Underpinning Peer Support Work in Chile. Community Ment Health J. 2022;58(1):111-120. doi:10.1007/s10597-021-00800-1

Rayland A, Andrews J. From Social Network to Peer Support Network: Opportunities to Explore Mechanisms of Online Peer Support for Mental Health. JMIR Ment Health. 2023;10:e41855. Published 2023 Feb 28. doi:10.2196/41855

Braun A, Löwe B, Uhlenbusch N. Peer Support in Chronic Conditions from the Peer Supporters’ Perspective: A Systematic Review. Psychosoc Interv. 2025;34(3):175-188. Published 2025 Jul 29. doi:10.5093/pi2025a14

Tang JPS, Liu T, Lu S, et al. ‘It was the deepest level of companionship’: peer-to-peer experience of supporting community-dwelling older people with depression – a qualitative study. BMC Geriatr. 2022;22(1):443. Published 2022 May 19. doi:10.1186/s12877-022-03121-4

Mills F, Drury J, Hall CE, et al. A mixed studies systematic review on the health and wellbeing effects, and underlying mechanisms, of online support groups for chronic conditions. Commun Psychol. 2025;3(1):40. Published 2025 Mar 15. doi:10.1038/s44271-025-00217-6

Meshe OF, Bungay H, Claydon LS. Participants’ experiences of the benefits, barriers and facilitators of attending a community-based exercise programme for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Health Soc Care Community. 2020;28(3):969-978. doi:10.1111/hsc.12929

Schnitzer K, Cather C, Zvonar V, et al. Patient Experience and Predictors of Improvement in a Group Behavioral and Educational Intervention for Individuals With Diabetes and Serious Mental Illness: Mixed Methods Case Study. J Particip Med. 2021;13(1):e21934. Published 2021 Feb 12. doi:10.2196/21934

Youth, Families & Early Intervention

Nayak SS, Tobias C, Wolfe J, et al. Engaging and Supporting Young Children and their Families in Early Childhood Mental Health Services: The Role of the Family Partner. Community Ment Health J. 2022;58(1):87-98. doi:10.1007/s10597-021-00796-8

Li M, Huang Y, Sun M. Exploring the structural links between peer support, psychological resilience, and exercise adherence in adolescents: a multigroup model across gender and educational stages. BMC Public Health. 2025;25(1):2300. Published 2025 Jul 3. doi:10.1186/s12889-025-23308-9

Connors JN, Thornsberry T, Hayden J, et al. The use of peer support groups for emergency physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open. 2023;4(1):e12897. Published 2023 Feb 19. doi:10.1002/emp2.12897

Hanly F, Torrens-Witherow B, Warren N, et al. Peer mentoring for individuals with an eating disorder: a qualitative evaluation of a pilot program. J Eat Disord. 2020;8:29. Published 2020 Jul 1. doi:10.1186/s40337-020-00301-8

Global & Community Models

Atujuna M, Simpson N, Ngobeni M, et al. Khuluma: Using Participatory, Peer-Led and Digital Methods to Deliver Psychosocial Support to Young People Living With HIV in South Africa. Front Reprod Health. 2021;3:687677. Published 2021 Jul 15. doi:10.3389/frph.2021.687677

Behera P, Patro BK, Singh AK, et al. Effectiveness of peer-led intervention in control of non-communicable diseases in rural areas of Khordha district: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2024;25(1):22. Published 2024 Jan 3. doi:10.1186/s13063-023-07824-w

Markström U, Näslund H, Schön U-K, et al. Developing sustainable service user involvement practices in mental health services in Sweden: The “userinvolve” research program protocol. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2023;14. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1282700

Poulsen CH, Egmose CH, Ebersbach BK, Hjorthøj C, Eplov LF. A community-based peer-support group intervention “Paths to EvERyday life” (PEER) added to service as usual for adults with vulnerability to mental health difficulties – a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2022;23(1):727. Published 2022 Sep 2. doi:10.1186/s13063-022-06670-6

Walde P, Hadala J, Peipe V, Völlm BA. Implementation of a peer support worker in a forensic psychiatric hospital in Germany-Views of patients. Front Psychiatry. 2023;14:1061106. Published 2023 Mar 8. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1061106

Liu Y, Wu X, Cai C, et al. Peer support in Shanghai’s Commitment to diabetes and chronic disease self-management: program development, program expansion, and policy. Transl Behav Med. 2020;10(1):13-24. doi:10.1093/tbm/ibz194

Innovation & Future Directions

Küçükaksu MH, Hoekstra T, Jansen L, Vermeulen J, Adriaanse MC, van Meijel B. Developing a Smoking Cessation Intervention for People With Severe Mental Illness Treated by Flexible Assertive Community Treatment Teams in the Netherlands: A Delphi Study. Front Psychiatry. 2022;13:866779. Published 2022 Jul 6. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.866779

Wedema D, Siero J, Korevaar EL, Wardenaar KJ, Alma MA, Schoevers RA. Storytelling and training to advance individual recovery skills (STAIRS). A feasibility study of a blended program to support personal recovery among patients with a major depressive disorder in remission. Front Psychiatry. 2022;13:984104. Published 2022 Sep 23. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.984104

Possemato K, Wu J, Greene C, et al. Web-Based Problem-solving Training With and Without Peer Support in Veterans With Unmet Mental Health Needs: Pilot Study of Feasibility, User Acceptability, and Participant Engagement. J Med Internet Res. 2022;24(1):e29559. Published 2022 Jan 13. doi:10.2196/29559