Unintentional participant observation: a research method to inform peer support in mental health?
Mental Health and Social Inclusion
ISSN: 2042-8308
Article publication date: 22 March 2019
Issue publication date: 6 June 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to validate peer support in mental health care.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature review and meta-analysis methodology are used.
Findings
The unintentional nature of peer support is a valid methodology for the understanding of mental health issues and mental health care.
Research limitations/implications
The limitation is that peer experience should be accepted as a valued method for research.
Practical implications
Professional domains may not keep a monopoly of research approaches in mental health.
Social implications
Peer support may mean more avenues for empowerment of mental health service users from peer role models who have unintentional acquaintance with mental health issues and care.
Originality/value
This research refers to ethnographic precedents to describe methodology relevant to twenty-first century peer support in mental health. It is original in valuing the unintentional participant observation acquired from experience of the mental health system.
Keywords
Citation
Voyce, A. (2019), "Unintentional participant observation: a research method to inform peer support in mental health?", Mental Health and Social Inclusion, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 81-85. https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-01-2019-0001
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited