Knowledge and expertise in care practices: the role of the peer worker in mental health teams

• Published in: Sociology of health & illness Vol. 41; no. 7; pp. 1305 - 1322
• Main Authors: Oborn, Eivor, Barrett, Michael, Gibson, Sarah, Gillard, Steve
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2019
• Subjects: Case studies; Comparative analysis; embodiment; Empathy; experiential knowledge; Experts; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health problems; Health research; Humans; Insight; Interdisciplinary aspects; Interest groups; Knowledge; lay concepts; Longitudinal Studies; medical knowledge; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - therapy; mental health and illness; Mental health care; Mental Health Services; Multidisciplinary teams; Patient Care Team; Peer Group; Qualitative Research; Social support; Socialization; Workers; lay concepts; mental health services; embodiment; mental health and illness; experiential knowledge; medical knowledge
• ISSN: 0141-9889; 1467-9566; 1467-9566
• DOI: 10.1111/1467-9566.12944

Our research examines how different forms of knowledge and expertise are increasingly important in caring for people experiencing mental illness. We build on theoretical developments regarding multiple ontologies of knowing about illness. We examine how experiential knowledge of mental health problems, learned by being subject to illness rather than through objective study, is enacted in mental healthcare teams. We focus on Peer Workers (PW), individuals who have lived experience of mental health problems, and who contribute knowledge and expertise to mental health care within multidisciplinary healthcare teams. Our longitudinal study was undertaken over 2 years by a multidisciplinary team who conducted 91 interviews with PW and other stakeholders to peer support within a comparative case study design. We show how workers with tacit, experiential knowledge of mental ill health engaged in care practice. First, we show how subjective knowing is underpinned by unique socialisation that enables the development of shared interactional spaces. Second, we point to how the situated nature of subjective knowing is uniquely embedded in time and space and allows for the alignment of embodied knowledge with trajectories of care. Third, we provide insight into how subjective forms of expertise might be incorporated into multidisciplinary care.