Peers for Progress: promoting peer support for health around the world

Boothroyd RI and Fisher EB. Peers for progress: promoting peer support for health around the world. Family Practice 2010; 27: i62-i68. Introduction. Peers for Progress, a global initiative of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, developed out of the World Health Organization (WHO) Consultation on Peer Support Programmes in Diabetes as a strategic approach to promote best practices in peer support for health around the world. Why peer support. People often find themselves on their own to manage complex factors for behaviour change. Peer support can link people sharing experiences to provide the practical, emotional, and ongoing support that is critical to sustained behaviour change. The need. Diabetes is a global epidemic that affects all aspects of people's lives for the rest of their lives. The complexity of self-management requires ongoing support for effective and sustained management. Key principles, strategies, activities. Peers for Progress aims to strengthen evidence of the value of peer support through evaluation grants, encourage recognition of a state-of-the-art in peer support through defining key functions of support that can be tailored and applied globally, and promote peer support through networking with programmes and leaders around the world. Conclusions. People seeking to prevent or manage health conditions can be a powerful source of support to each other to manage complex behaviors. Peers for Progress has a defined functional framework for peer support's core functions, and is evaluating the scope and impact of peer support interventions based on this framework and a set of consensus evaluation measures. Peers for Progress looks to raise the visibility and applicability of peer support as good health care for all people.