Social Support from Peers: The Well-Being, Motivations, and Experiences of Mended Hearts Visitors

“Peer supporters” or “similar others” are persons who have been through the same life crisis that a stressed individual is currently facing; they are experientially similar to the stressed person.  Very little is known about the motivations, experiences, and support-giving strategies of peer support-providers.  There were three broad purposes of this study: 1: To investigate how providing peer support to others affects supporters’ health and well-being; 2: To examine the motivations for providing peer support and the meanings of this volunteer activity among individuals who do this work routinely; and 3: To study from the peer-supporters’ point of view how social support from peers differs from support that is supplied by family members and friends.  Eighty-two of the roughly 250 Mended Hearts chapters were randomly selected to participate in the project.  Paper and web versions of the survey were distributed by Visiting Chairs to the visitors in the selected chapters.  Upon completion of the survey, respondents were invited to participate in a semi-structured telephone interview about their Mended Hearts visiting experiences.