Using Behavioral Skills Training to Teach Peer Support Workers to Respond to Ethical Scenarios

Abstract

ABSTRACT Peer support workers are people living with a mental illness and/or substance use disorder who use their lived experience and training to support people in recovery. Setting boundaries when faced with an ethical scenario is an important skill that peer support workers must acquire. This report from the field examined the effects of group-based behavioral skills training (BST) to teach peer support workers to set boundaries by restating their needs, saying they cannot engage in the requested behavior, and redirecting them to an appropriate resource or response. Four of five participants met the mastery criterion after BST plus supplemental experimenter feedback. Moreover, participants found the training acceptable. These results suggest BST may be useful to teach ethical skills to peer support workers within the context of a public health workforce development program.