The Role of Peer Providers to Scale Up Psychological Treatments for Perinatal Populations Worldwide.

Abstract

Psychological treatments remain largely inaccessible to perinatal populations despite their robust effectiveness. This gap ispartly due to the limited numberof available treatment providers. In this review, we critically evaluate recent literature on task-sharing to peer providers and propose future directions. There is a growing evidence base demonstrating that peer providers can effectively deliver psychological treatments for perinatal populations, as well as engage in processes critical to quality assurance, such as measurement-based peer supervision. Findings have also highlighted some benefits of peers over licensed healthcare providers, such as enhanced collaborative relationships, reduced stigma, provision of social comparisons, and increased accessibility. Peer providers may be one solution to improve access to psychological treatments for perinatal populations. However, there is a need to address clinical, professional, and health-system level barriers to effectively leverage this cadre of treatment providers.