Peer support intervention through mobile application: An integrative literature review and future directions.

Peer support is an important component of client-centered care. However, there are numerous barriers faced by traditional peer support delivery that have limited its role, such as timeliness and location of service. Smartphone technology may provide a cost-effective mode of delivery that overcomes many such barriers, offering immediate and accessible service. Such a mobile application may play a role in alleviating experiences of distress. This paper reviews literature relevant to the use of mobile applications in peer support. Investigators conducted an integrative literature review utilizing online databases and triangulation. No literature evaluating the use of mobile application in peer support was discovered. As such, investigators included literature regarding the efficacy of technology-based peer support and the efficacy of health intervention through mobile applications. These studies highlighted both the health outcomes associated with peer support and the limitations specific to mobile application healthcare interventions. Of note, these limitations include the intergenerational gap in use of mobile applications, as well as ethical and privacy considerations. Findings suggest that a mobile application for peer support may provide effective intervention for distress, in turn alleviating stress on other healthcare system resources. Peer support delivered in this manner should complement and not replace the usual face- to-face support or direct crisis intervention.Keywords: peer support, mobile application, mHealth, distress, intervention, technologyResumeLe soutien par les pairs est un volet important des soins aux clients. Toutefois, il existe de nombreux obstacles pour les services traditionnels de soutien par les pairs, par exemple, sur le plan du delai et de leur emplacement. La technologie du telephone intelligent pourrait constituer un mode de prestation economique sans aucun de ces obstacles qui permettrait d'offrir des services accessibles et immediats. Une telle application mobile pourrait contribuer a repondre aux situations de detresse. Le present article examine la litterature portant sur l'utilisation d'applications mobiles pour le soutien par les pairs. Les chercheurs ont realise une revue de litterature approfondie au moyen des bases de donnees en ligne et de la triangulation. Ils n'ont trouve aucun article consacre a l'evaluation de l'utilisation d'applications mobiles pour le soutien par les pairs. Ils avaient inclus la litterature sur l'efficacite du soutien par les pairs base sur la technologie et sur l'efficacite des interventions en sante au moyen d'applications mobiles. Ces etudes mettaient en relief les resultats pour la sante associes au soutien par les pairs ainsi que les limites propres aux interventions en soins de sante au moyen d'une application mobile. Parmi ces limites figuraient l'ecart entre les generations quant a l'usage d'applications mobiles ainsi que des considerations relatives a l'ethique et a la protection des renseignements personnels. Les resultats suggerent qu'une application mobile pour le soutien pour les pairs pourrait constituer une intervention efficace pour diminuer la detresse, et du coup, la pression sur les ressources du systeme des soins de sante. Le soutien par les pairs ainsi fourni devrait completer et non remplacer l'appui en personne ou les interventions directes en cas d'urgence.Mots-cles : soutien par les pairs, application mobile, soins de sante mobiles mHealth, detresse, intervention, technologie.Peer support plays a prominent role in healthcare delivery with services available proliferating in the past 3 decades (Davidson, Bellamy, & Miller, 2012). Peer-to-peer intervention offers a twoway street; the peer offering support may validate his or her lived experience while simultaneously instilling hope in others (Deegan, 1996; Jacobson & Greenley, 2001). The reciprocity of personal, lived experiences with others who relate is integral to effective peer support intervention, creating opportunity for positive experiences of self-disclosure (Davidson et ah, 2012; Repper & Carter, 2011) . …