Peer Counselling with Organizations and Community Based Groups

• 9000 Lukens, H. C. (1983). Training paraprofessional Christian counselors: A survey conducted. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 2, 51-61.

  Examines the strength of the scriptural basis for training lay counselors and surveys 17 programs represented in membership directories. The object is to determine the existence and nature of systematic training at the paraprofessional level.

• 9001 Miller, P. M. (1978). Peer counseling in the church. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.

  In this book the author describes the attitudes and skills lay members in the Church will need to assist one another in growth-type counselling, especially as it relates to vocations, preparation for marriage and problems in marriage.

• 9002 Cornstock, C. H. (1982). Prevention process in self-help groups: Parents Anonymous. Prevention in Human Services, 1(3), 47-53.

  Presents a series of vignettes to illustrate how the group process in Parents Anonymous (PA) provides participants with opportunities to change their feeling and behavior. The vignettes focus on concepts of self worth, love, touching and blocked feelings. It is concluded that through these processes and an atmosphere of mutual sharing and support, PA may prevent continued or potential child abuse.

• 9003 Gottlieb, B. H. (1982). Mutual-help groups: Members' views of their benefits and of roles for professionals. Prevention in Human Services, 1(3), 55-67.

  Assessed how much benefit group members derive from different elements of support, and whether the elements are equally present in different types of self help groups.

• 9004 Miller, L. M. (1982). Teen advocate program. Journal of School Health, 52, 605-607.

  Describes the Teen Advocate Program (TAP) in Hermosa Beach, California. In the TAP, participants spend 10 hours/week in a variety of clinical, outreach, and information/referral activities under the supervision of adult volunteers. Goals, training procedures, and evaluative data are discussed.

• 9005 Spicuzza, F. J., & DeVoe, M. W. (1982). Burnout in the helping professions: Mutual aid groups as self-help. Personnel and Guidance Journal, 61, 95-99.

  Offers some insight and understanding of the stress-producing components of counseling practice. Discusses some of the physical symptoms of burnout and examines why the syndrome is prevalent in the human services. Proposes the development of mutual aid groups as one solution to prevent or minimize burnout.

• 9006 Todres, R. (1983). Self help groups: An annotated bibliography, 1970-1982. New York: National Self-Help Clearinghouse.

  This annotated bibliography features 334 articles or books whose primary focus is self- help groups. Self-help groups are defined as voluntary, small group structures for mutual aid. Usually formed by peers for the purpose of mutual assistance, overcoming a handicap or problem, or for bringing about personal change. Furthermore, they are non-profit, not led by professionals, and characterized by face-to-face, helper/helpee conditions. This book features citations from international English sources as well as references in French from French Canada. Includes a comprehensive 13 page index.

• 9007 Withey, V., Anderson, R., & Lauderdale, M. (1980). Volunteers as mentors for abusing parents: A natural helping relationship. Child Welfare, 59(10), 637-644.

  Describes apprentice/mentor relationship as a way of meeting the needs of abusive parents and the needs of understaffed agencies with large caseloads. Mentoring is discussed in terms of the life span developmental need for acquiring a sense of generativity and basic factors in the evolution of a mentoring relationship. (Author/RH).

• 9008 Kelley, P., & Kelley, V. R. (1985, June). Supporting natural helpers: A cross-cultural study. Social Casework, 66(6), 358-367.

  The relationship between professional and natural helpers was the subject of similar studies in Iowa and in Ireland and the United Kingdom. As a result, several clusters of natural helpers were identified and a model for professional-natural helper cooperation was developed.

• 9009 Gottlieb, B. H. (1985). Combining lay and professional resources to promote human welfare: Prospects and tensions. In J. A. Yoder et al. (Eds.), Support networks in a caring community, (pp. 59-79). Boston: Martinus Nijhoff.

  Examines and illustrates the balance points between professional help, self-help, informal help, and networking. Raises serious concerns about peer helping which could deplete rather than improve or boost social support. Provides concrete alternatives and remedies to avoid unnecessary tensions between informal and formal helping systems. (RAC).

• 9010 Guttman, M. J. (1985). A peer counselling model: Social outreach. Canadian Counsellor, 19(3-4), 135-143.

  Describes a peer counselling model implemented in a community student organization designed to meet social and religious needs of adolescents. The model emphasizes outreach social activities and school community liaison. Selection, the 9-month training course, supervision and peer counselling assignments are outlined. Evaluation of this model according to (1) counsellors' self-reports, and (2) student clients' evaluations indicates that peer counsellors were perceived as highly effective in social leadership, group discussion, and individual counselling roles. In addition, over 60% of student clients indicated they sought out individual sessions with counsellors, with 42% seeking multiple contacts. (Psyc Abstr).

• 9011 Toro, P. A. (1986). A comparison of natural and professional help. American Journal of Community Psychology, 14(2), 147-159.

  The study investigated the process and effectiveness of three natural and professional groups who commonly provide help to persons experiencing the important critical life event of marital disruption. Subjects were 42 helpers: 14 mental health professionals, 14 divorce lawyers, and 14 leaders of mutual help groups. Analysis, based on variables derived from coded audiotapes of simulated helping interactions and from ratings of helper effectiveness, indicated many similarities between mental health professionals and mutual help leaders but considerable differences between these two groups and divorce lawyers. Lawyers did more talking overall, showed greater proportions of information giving and closed questions, and were more effective in the legal/financial domain. Additional analyses indicated that all helpers showed fewer information- gathering behaviours and more information- and advice-giving behaviours as the helping interaction progressed. (Author).

• 9012 Endal, D. (1985). Recommendation from youth to youth: Keep off the drugs. Bulletin on Narcotics, 37(2-3), 169-175.

  Describes the work in Norway of the International Good Templar Youth Federation to develop a world-wide campaign for culture free of intoxicants. Former addicts help in the development of rehabilitation and social reintegration programs for drug addicts and alcoholics. (RAC).

• 9013 Young, J., & Williams, C. L. (1988). Whom do mutual-help groups help? A typology of members. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 39(11), 1178-1182.

  A total of 1,677 members of GROW, a mutual-help organization, were surveyed about the reasons they joined GROW and their perceptions of its effectiveness in meeting their needs. The organization was founded 30 years ago to enhance the rehabilitation of former mental patients, but it now includes members who have never been treated for mental illness. Cluster analysis of the survey data revealed five distinct groups of members. One group sought relief of symptoms, while others sought a supportive community, help in recovering from trauma, help in coping with bereavement, or the opportunity to help others. The interests of the different types of members in GROW and in other mutual-help organizations, may be at odds because some members may need social support that encourages change (facilitative support), while others may need social support that provides stable relationships (palliative support). (Authors).

• 9014 Toseland, R. W., Rossiter, C. M., & Labrecque, M. S. (1989). The effectiveness of peer-led and professionally led groups to support family caregivers. The Gerontologist, 29(4), 465-471.

  This three-year, clinical study compares the efficacy of peer-led and professionally-led groups in alleviating the stress of women caring for a frail parent. Supportive interventions used by each group are discussed. Participants in both groups experienced significant improvements in psychological functioning, increases in informal support networks, and positive personal changes in handling of the caregiving role when compared with control participants. Professionally led groups produced the greatest improvement in psychological functioning, and peer-led groups produced the greatest increases in support networks. (Author/CKS).

• 9015 Seyfrit, C. L., Reichel, P. L., & Stutts, B. L. (1987). Peer juries as a juvenile justice diversion technique. Youth and Society, 18(3), 302-316.

  From the small numbers of youths involved in the programs surveyed, it appears that the peer jury can handle more serious offenses and second offenders as effectively as the traditional system. The positive impact of the initial evaluation warrants more research. (LHW).

• 9016 Levine, S. H. (1987). Peer support for women in middle management. Educational Leadership, 45(3), 74-75.

  A peer support group for women in middle management positions broadens perspectives, generates alternative solutions to managerial problems, and enhances professional and personal esteem. (MLF).

• 9017 Gordon, J. S. (1976). Youth helping youth. Social Policy, 7(2), 48-53.

  Outlines the evaluation of a suburban hotline. Among its foci is the interrelationship between the growth and development of a core group of youthful phone aides and that of the organization as a whole. (Author/AM).

• 9018 Davis, G. L., Hoffman, R. G., & Quigley, R. (1988). Symposium: Peer group treatment for troubled youth. Youth and Child Care Quarterly, 17(3), 137-145.

  (One in a series of articles on this topic in this journal.) Positive Peer Culture has been a popular peer group intervention strategy for delinquent youth for about the last 12 years. Questions have been raised, however, regarding the effectiveness of peer group approaches. The present study addresses the effective change in self-concept of 231 adjudicated delinquents in positive peer culture treatment. (Author)

• 9019 Borman, L. D. (1976). Self-help and the professional. Social Policy, 7(2), 46-47.

  In an essay outlining the growth, diversity, increasing respectability, and need for self- help groups, many of which were started and helped by often covert forces in the helping professions, a case is made for a national commitment to better legitimize these groups' status in society. These would include setting up a network of channels for allocations of service and funding and for the development of new groups. (NPC).

• 9020 Moberg, D. J., & Meyer, M. J. (1990). A deontological analysis of peer relations in organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 9(11), 863-877.

  Using practical formalism, a deontological ethical analysis of peer relations in organizations is developed. This analysis is composed of two types of duties derived from Kant's Categorical Imperative: negative duties to refrain from the use of peers and positive duties to provide help and assistance. The conditions under which these duties pertain are specified through the development of examples and conceptual distinctions. A number of implications are then discussed. (Authors).

• 9021 Mitchell, M. (1986). Utilizing volunteers to enhance informal social networks. Social Casework: The Journal of Contemporary Social Work, 290-298.

  A framework for utilizing volunteers as direct-service tools to enhance certain socially isolated clients' informal social networks is presented. The client-worker and client- volunteer relationships are compared in relation to qualities of effective intervention, and practice implications are offered. (Author).

• 9022 Obenshain, V. (1992). Peer training yields speedy results. Personnel Journal, 71(4), 107.

  (Article not yet available for annotation).

• 9023 Thompson, B.L. (1991, July). An early review of peer review. Training, 28(7), 42- 46.

  The author describes the ingredients of self-directed work teams and how performance appraisal can be conducted by peers. Specific examples from the corporate world are presented. (RAC)

• 9024 Boehm, K., Chessare, J.B., Valko, T.R., & Sager, M.S. (1991). Teen Line: A descriptive analysis of a peer telephone listening service. Adolescence, 26(103), 643- 648.

  Teen Line is a peer telephone listening service for adolescents. During its initial year of operation, 2,270 phone calls were received. After an initial novelty effect, counts document a consistent level of use. Two-thirds of the callers were female. Although 4% of topics discussed dealt with crisis situations (suicide, physical abuse), 96% were concerned with common, less urgent adolescent issues, such as peer relationships, family dynamics, and the need to have someone to talk to. A model for an adolescent listening service is presented along with data from a year of the service operation. (Authors)

• 9025 Varenhorst, B. B. & Sparks, L. (1988). Training teenagers for peer ministry: A step by step program teaching kids how to care for each other. Loveland, Colorado: Group Books.

  See 10108

• 9026 National Network of Runaway and Youth Services. (1991). Youth- reaching-youth implementation guide: A peer program for alcohol and other drug use prevention. Norman, Oklahoma: The University of Oklahoma, National Resources Center for Youth Services.

  This six part, three-ring binder, training program includes sections on the administrative nuts and bolts of peer programs, how to plan and evaluate, how to implement a peer program, a core step by step training module, specific peer activities used by community-based agencies that serve homeless, runaway and other youth in hi-risk situations, and additional resources. (RAC)

• Barclay, J.H., & Harland, L.K. (1995). Peer performance appraisals: The impact of rate competence, rate location, and rating correctability on fairness perceptions. Group & Organization Management, 20, 1, 39-60. Research support for the use of peers in performance appraisal with specific guidelines for insuring effectiveness.(RAC)

• Paterson, C. (1993). Peer helper training manual. Peterborough, ON: Sir Sandford Fleming College. A program, trainer guide, and peer helper handbook for establishing a displaced worker peer helper program. (RAC)

• Miller, R.E.,& Metz, G.J. (1991). Union counseling as peer assistance. Employee Assistance Quarterly, 6, 4, 1-21. Training details and activities are outlined for union representatives to act as peer counselors to other union members. (RAC)

• Bamberger, P., & Sonnenstuhl, W.J. (1995). Peer referral networks and utilization of a union-based EAP. The Journal of Drug Issues, 25, 2, 291-312. Research on how peer networks encourage troubled co-workers to use union-based EAPs.(RAC)

• Springer, K. (1995). When the helper needs help: Stress and the law enforcement employee. EAPA Exchange, 25, 3, 6-10+. Peer support is profiled and recommended as an important strategy for law enforcement personnel. (RC)

• Glasgow, R.E. (1993). Participation in worksite health promotion - A critique oof the literature. Health Education Quarterly, 20, 3, 391-408. Not available for annotation.

• Filipczak, B. (1993, June). Frick teachers Frack. Training, 30-34. Examples of how peers can be effective as trainers for other employees in a business organization. (RAC)

• Saavedra, R., &Kwun, S.K. (1993). Peer evaluation in self-managing work groups. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 3, 450-462. Self-other comparisons influence peer performance evaluations (Author).

• Spencer, L. How do nurses deal with their own grief when a patient dies on an intensive care unit, and what help can be given to enable them to overcome their grief effectively? Journal of Advanced Nursing, 19, 6, 1141-1150. Peer support from other nurses was considered essential to deal with grief and more training should be provided to nurses to help them provide this type of support to each other.(RAC)

• Feingold,A. (1994). Peer supervision and HIV: One group's process. In Caldwell, S.A., Burnham Jr., R.A., &Forstein, M. Therapists on the front line: Psychotherapy with gay men in the age of AIDS. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc. Clinicians can reduce professional isolation and promote professional development by meeting in peer support teams. (RAC)

• Gingiss, P.L. (1993). Peer coaching: Building collegial support for using innovative health programs. Journal of School Health, 63, 2, 79-85. Reviews peer coaching program features, strategies, and theory foundations in helping teachers deliver various innovative health programs. (RAC)

• Eisenbarth, D., &Handcock, H. (1993). Only God can make a tree, but I can plant a seed: Peer helping in Canadian correctional institutions. Peer Facilitator Quarterly, 11, 1, 22-25. A description of a peer program used in Canadian prison system. (RAC)

• Memmott, J.L. (1993). Models of helping and coping: A field experiment with natural and professional helpers. Social Work Research & Abstracts, 29, 3, 11-21. Social workers and natural helpers were compared on a variety of beliefs and assumptions regarding helping and coping models, and suggestions are provided regarding productive collaboration. (RAC)

• Kostyk, D., Fuchs, D., Tabisz, E.& Jacyk, W.R. (1993). Combining professional and self-help group intervention: Collaboration in co-leadership. Social Work with Groups, 16, 3, 111-123. Peer co-leadership was shown to be effective in working with a group of chemically dependent senior citizens. (RAC)

• Galanter, M., Egelko, S., De Leon, G., &Rohrs, C. (1993). A general hospital day program combining peer-led and professional treatment of cocaine users. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 44, 7, 644-649. A description of a program for socioeconomically disadvantaged substance abusers that combines peer and professional treatment. (RAC)

• Lancioni, G.E., Brouwer, J.A., and Otten, R. (1995). Increasing the occupational level of a passive man through the employment of mentally handicapped peer caregivers. International Journal of Rehabilitation Research, 18, 64-67. Guidelines for and a case study about the power of peers to assist in improving occupational attainment. (RAC)

• Weinstein, N.D. (1993). Persuasive conversations between friends about health and safety precautions. Health Education Quarterly, 20, 3, 347-360. Peers could benefit from discussing risks, options, and barriers to taking action. (RAC)

• Boehm, K.E., & Campbell, N.B. (1995). Suicide: A review of calls to an adolescent peer listening phone service. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 26, 1, 61-66. An analysis of calls showing more females call about suicide, the calls last longer and are later in the evening than other calls, and often focus on self-esteem, family problems, and substance use rather than $just to tell.$. (RAC)

• Dolan, B. (1994). A teen hot line. The B.C. Counsellor, 16, 2, 28-34. A teen talk line run by peers is shown to be effective and have an impact on the self-esteem of peers. (RAC)

• Mullins, D. (1994). Homelessness - What can be done - An immediate programme of self-help. Local Government Studies, 20, 3, 515-516. Not available for annnotation.

• Silver, E., Coupey, s. Bauman, L., Doctors, S., &Boeck, M. (1992). Effects of a peer counseling training intervention on psychological functioning of adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Development, 7, 110-128. A peer counseling training program for inner city youth with chronic health programs was established to emphasize interpersonal skills and decrease psychological distress. Results were not statistically significant but in the direction of enhanced ego development and decreased psychiatric symptoms among the peer counselors.(RAC)

• Cassel, R.N. (1992). Peer counseling using cognitive education to prevent high risk youth from drug abuse. Psychology: A Journal of Human Behavior, 29, 1, 38-43. Masonic youth group members trained as peer counselors to reach out to community youth.

• Sonnenstuhl, W.J., &Trice, H.M. (1987). The social construction of alcohol problems in a union's peer counseling program. Journal of Drug Issues, 17, 3, 223-254. Describes an AA intervention program operating within the NYC Tunnel and Construction Workers Union, an occupational community characterized by a heavy drinking culture. The program consists of credentialed alcoholism counselors and a network of union members who also belong to Alcoholics Anonymous. In negotiations with these groups, drinkers learn they are alcoholic and attempt to achieve sobriety. Negotiations break down into 3 states: getting into the network, learning to stay in the network, and taking responsibility. Constructive confrontation and job performance assessment are crucial elements of the program. (PsychLit)

• Kearney, D. (1987). Co-counselling in personal and professional development. Educational and Child Psychology, 4, 3-4, 143-149. Discusses the benefits to personal and professional growth that reciprocal peer counselling, re-evaluation counselling, and co-counselling offer to educational psychologists. (PsychLit)

• Guttman, M.A. (1989). Verbal interactions of professional and peer led group counselling sessions. Canadian Journal of Counselling, 23, 1, 103-112. Professionals were more therapeutic, risk-oriented, and work-oriented, and less socially oriented than groups led by peer counsellors. (PsychLit)

• Emerson, B.L., &Hinkle, J.S. (1988). A police peer counselor uses reality therapy. Journal of Reality Therapy, 8, 1, 2-5. Describes a case example in which the concepts of control theory and reality therapy proved to be effective in working with police officers in peer counseling situations, including events involving trauma. (PsychLit)

• Cooper-White, P. (1990). Peer vs. clinical counseling: Is there a place for both in the battered women's movement? Response to the Victimization of Women and Children, 13, 3, 2-6. Discusses the controversy concerning the appropriateness of peer counseling or adocacy vs. clinical counseling or psychotherapy. (PsychLit)

• Boehm, K.E. (1995). Suicide: A review of calls to an adolescent peer listening phone [Missing Data]. Child Psychiatry &Human Development, 26, 1, 61-66. (Not available for annotation).

• Bianconi, A.M. (1990). Peer education: A case study in county-wide networking of school-based peer helping programs and community service agencies. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1990). Dissertation Abstracts International, 284. This study found that when peer programs were networked throughout the county, positive changes occured in the community, benefits accrued to the peer programs, and new types of valuable peer services were created. (RAC)