Family Caregivers’ Experiences of Formal Peer Support in a Finnish Setting – a Socioecological Understanding

Introduction: Peer support programmes are important complementary support forms in integrated care. This study investigates formal peer support experiences among family caregivers in Finland by scrutinising multidimensional input and output mechanisms of emotional, informational, and appraisal support. Methods: Seventeen family caregivers were interviewed through focus group and individual interviews. The qualitative data was analysed using a socioecological model for formal peer support. Results: The family caregivers described their caregiving situation as a source of pain enabling receiving emotional support from peer support participants with similar experiences – although norms of privacy and taboo hindered participation. Organisational aspects of programme delivery such as setting expectations, rules of confidentiality, environmental setting, group dynamics and leadership influenced experiences of informational and appraisal support. Overburden created barriers to receiving emotional and informational peer support. The participants wanted to influence society and contribute to other family caregivers through formal peer support – highlighting its socioecological nature. Conclusions: Each attribute of peer support [emotional, informational, and appraisal support] formed its own, yet interlinked, ecosystem. Experiences of peer support are beyond programme delivery, and future studies could employ a socioecological framework when further delving into attributes of formal peer support among family caregivers in specific target groups and/or settings.