November 2012
Cheryl MacNeil, PhD, Principal Investigator.
Associate Professor, The Sage Colleges, Troy, NY 12180
This is Year One of a two-year study measuring the outcomes of peer support at the Empowerment Exchange, a program of the Mental Health Empowerment Project. The study is being conducted by Dr. Cheryl MacNeil at the Sage Colleges and four peer investigators from the Empowerment Exchange. The purpose of the two year study is to describe how participating in the peer support activities offered by the Empowerment Exchange impact peoples’ lives by measuring outcomes across six domains: 1) service use, 2) employment, 3) community engagement, 4) quality of life, 5) well-being, and 6) program satisfaction. These outcomes were measured in Year One (2012) and will be measured again in Year Two (2013) using the Peer Outcomes Protocol Questionnaire (Campbell, J., Einspahr, K., Evenson, R. & Adkins, R., 2004).
In Year One of the study, people who received intentional peer support from the Empowerment Exchange during the year 2011 and had at least three contacts with the program where invited to participate. We were able to identify 82 people using the sign in sheets at the multiple events offered by the program during that year (if a person’s name appeared three times or more throughout the year on sign in sheets), 34 agreed to participate in the study. All participants who completed the survey received a $20 Visa gift card. All individuals who completed the survey in Year One (2012) will be contacted again in 2013 and will receive a $20 gift card if they complete the survey a second time.