“Peer Navigators for the Health and Wellness of People with Psychiatric Disabilities”
(2020 – 2025)
People with psychiatric disabilities become sick and die up to 20 years earlier than same age peers. One reason is their inability to engage in a fragmented health care system that is unable to coherently offer services to people with psychiatric disabilities. Service engagement is further hampered by social determinants of health including low income and ethnic disparities. This project will test the impact of a peer navigator program (PNP) on engagement in the existing service system to address the health and wellness goals of program participants. Peer navigators are people of similar ethnic heritage with lived experience of recovery. This project will be led by a community-based participatory research team of people with lived experience. Three hundred research participants will be randomly assigned to eight months of PNP or integrated care as usual. Research design is informed by findings from two previous pilot studies on PNP. Outcome data will be collected on service engagement, insurance status, hospital and ER use, prescription medications, blood pressure, physical and mental health symptoms, experience of health problems, depression, anxiety, recovery, and quality of life. Mediators will be assessed including self-determination, personal empowerment, experience of peer disclosure, and perceived relationship for recovery. Results will inform the current PNP leading to updates of manual and workbook, fidelity measure, and training plan. It will also inform dissemination and utilization activities.
This study is funded by the National Institute for Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). For more information contact Project Lead, Carla Kundert at ckundert@iit.edu.