The findings highlight training, supervision, pay, nonpeer staff/peer staff relationships, as important factors for statutory mental health peer support programs.

A range of issues surrounding admission to either residential or nursing home care are considered from the perspectives of older people and their family carers. Drawing on the literature and a number of studies conducted by the authors, the processes and perceptions that shape and influence admission to care are identified. On the basis of the interaction of these factors a four-stage typology of admission is suggested: the positive choice, the rationalized alternative, the discredited option, and the fait accompli. The characteristics of each admission type are discussed and the implications for professionals, particularly nurses, working with older people and their carers are addressed.

This research adds to existing literature that PSWs produce outcomes similar to nonpeer staff and struggle with boundaries related to their unique role.

The international evidence base on factors that most influence outcomes in mental health care finds that matching therapeutic intervention to diagnosis has a clinically insignificant impact on outcomes. Decades of outcome research into treatment of psychiatric disorders shows that, despite the development of many new techniques, the outcomes being achieved in studies 30 years ago are similar to those being achieved now. In the last few years, new service models that incorporate systems of feedback on progress and alliance have emerged and show promise with regards improving overall outcomes for mental health service users. Growing familiarity with this outcome literature, together with a desire to be part of a service that can continue to improve patient outcomes, led a small community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services team to develop a new whole service model - Outcome Orientated Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (OO-CAMHS). OO-CAMHS incorporates key aspects of the evidence base on what could make a differential positive impact on outcomes and relinquishes those aspects that do not. In this paper, we outline the evidence base on which OO-CAMHS is built, describe the key features of the approach and present some of the early findings on its impact.

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