Jon Fieldhouse, Vanessa Parmenter, Ralph Lillywhite and Philippa Forsey
The purpose of this paper is to explore what worked well in terms of peer involvement in a diverse network of community groups for people affected by mental health problems in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore what worked well in terms of peer involvement in a diverse network of community groups for people affected by mental health problems in Bath and North East Somerset (BANES), UK.
Design/methodology/approach
A participatory action inquiry approach engaged the network’s key stakeholders (group members, facilitators, and commissioners) in critical reflection on what supported successful groups.
Findings
Successful groups have six characteristics: mutual support, a positive shared identity, opportunities for taking on roles, negotiated ground rules, skilled facilitation, and a conducive physical environment. Additionally, each group achieved a balance between the following areas of tension: needing ground rules but wanting to avoid bureaucracy, needing internal structure whilst also committing to group activities, balancing leadership with accountability, wanting peer leadership whilst acknowledging the burden of this responsibility, and lobbying for change in mental health services whilst acknowledging the need for support from them.
Research limitations/implications
The evaluation shows a group’s success is about adaptability and group facilitation is the art of navigating a course through these competing demands above. These insights have informed plans for a practical guide for developing peer led groups and for training of peer leaders in BANES.
Originality/value
This evaluation focuses on self-efficacy. It draws on group members’ own perceptions of what worked best for them to provide transferable learning about how peer led support groups might develop more generally. It can thus inform the growth of a comparatively new kind of community-based support for people with mental health problems and for their carers.
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This article aims to place the emergence of coaching in its appropriate historical context and address the lack of historical attention given to this subject. In tracing the path…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to place the emergence of coaching in its appropriate historical context and address the lack of historical attention given to this subject. In tracing the path the coach has taken in becoming a management concept, the article seeks to draw attention to its unique history as an object that has been transformed into a popular management concept.
Design/methodology/approach
This article reviews how coaching has been portrayed in various books, articles and research papers since appearing as a transportation object in the 15th century.
Findings
The coach began as a technology used for transportation, evolved into an object that was associated with a type of status and then became a prominent character in sport, before ultimately becoming an influential management concept. Across historical periods discussions of coaching have tended to involve individuals who experience coaching. A consistent feature of these discussions is the issue of professionals and professionalism.
Research limitations/implications
It is difficult to determine the date when our contemporary notions of the coach were first discussed, as these discussions originally involved slang, and a lag exists between talking about coaching and writing about it.
Practical implications
Concerns have been raised in the management discipline regarding the influence of research on practice and as advocates of coaching seek professional and scientific legitimacy, this historical review offers a perspective that can enhance discussions of these issues.
Originality/value
This paper places the popularity of this concept within a historical context that outlines how the idea of coaching evolved from a form of technology to a concept associated with a wide array of management topics.