Integration of Peer Recovery Coach Checklist into a Digital Clinical Tool to Promote Standardized Data on Clinical Activities in Real Time

Abstract

Research Objective: Peer recovery coaches (PRCs) provide non-clinical support to clients in their recovery from substance use disorder. The role of the PRC is diverse, thus the Peer Recovery Coach Checklist (adapted from Byrne et al. 2023) was implemented to capture the core activities that PRCs engage in to support their clients, which includes personalized support and generalized support, which includes 25 items divided into socioemotional, informational, instrumental support activities. The aim of this study was to translate the checklist into a novel web-based client management system and identify modifications needed to support the workflows of PRCs’ daily tasks.

Study Design: Multiple user-centered design methods were used to understand the work of PRC (rapid ethnography, co-design sessions, prototype validation) culminating in the design of the Peer PLUS platform which includes a client management system and a client-facing mobile application. We tested the integration of the checklist into the client management system through two in-the-wild deployments, followed by a focus group with PRCs. Using ERIC implementation strategies, the tool was revised through facilitation, clinical implementation team meetings, and tailoring the tool to meet PRCs needs supported by a team of PRCs, a PRC clinical supervisor, human-computer interaction experts, a clinical psychologist and user experience specialists.

Population Studied: Study participants were five English-speaking PRCs (one male) and one peer coach manager (female) from a hospital-based Peer Recovery Support Services program.

Principal Findings: Prior to deployment, a new category (preparatory work) was added to the checklist to address tasks that take place before a PRC meets with a client. Primary feedback from the multidisciplinary team focused on streamlining the checklist. This included shortening descriptions of activities, subject-first wording, automatically selecting high-use activities, reordering items to reflect frequency of use, expanding instrumental support activities that reflect the breadth of settings, and renaming the instrumental category with care navigation. Informational supports were also captured in separate “resources” section of the digital tool; therefore, this section was used to indicate the method of sharing the resources. The final checklist included 38 support activities (10 socioemotional, 6 informational, 16 care navigation, 6 preparatory work) presented in a cascading check box design. The presentation will demonstrate the transformations of the original checklist and new content added to support PRCs workflows.

Conclusions: Capturing the specialized activities of PRCs within digital tools may facilitate clinical communication and advocacy regarding the key role of PRCs in substance use treatments. Facilitating the translation of skills checklists into user-friendly clinical tools is an essential step to create standardized data entry while maximizing usability and functionality.

Implications for Policy or Practice: While there is substantial evidence that peer recovery support is a crucial component in recovery from substance use disorder, there remains a lack of evidence on sustaining a PRC team. By creating a tool that captures the breadth and depth of PRC activities and testing a conceptualized checklist in practice, Peer PLUS could be instrumental in capturing the type of data that can be used to inform practices that support the maintenance of a robust team of PRCs.

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

6-9-2025

Publication Title

Academy Health Annual Research Meeting

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