["Change Agents" Or "Peer Washing": Can Peer Support Workers Contribute To The Transformation Of Psychiatric Institutions?]

Objective: Peer support workers (=PSW) are expected to change the culture of a care facility. It is examined whether and how they can implement such a change mandate.
Methods: The material is based on two sub-studies of the ImpPeer-Psy5 study, investigating the implementation of PSW in the German psychiatric care system. Data from 57 problem-centered interviews and two focus groups were analyzed using a thematic analysis.
Results: PSW need courage, also as their impulses for change are often insufficiently received. This can lead to the reproduction of exclusion and to the PSWs' adaption to the attitudes of the teams.
Conclusions: To facilitate the implementation of the PSWs' change mandate, power relations and structural discrimination should be reflected, exchange spaces and a culture of critique should be established, and enough time be allowed for the implementation of PSW.
Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.
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