The role of a Young Adult Worker in establishing Peer Support through social media
Introduction: The British Kidney Patient’s Association (BKPA) provided funding for Young Adult Worker’s (YAW) across the Southwest. The role of the YAW was to provide non-clinical support to young people with kidney problems throughout their transition from paediatric to adult care. Each trust with an established renal unit was offered funding for a band 6 0.2 WTE for the duration of one year and this is the experience of one renal unit.
The latest NICE guidance on transition (NICE, 2015) suggests that peer support should be routinely offered to young people as a means of improving engagement and building independence. Young people also suggest that sharing experiences with others who have been through the same situation is powerful as long as they are in control of it. There are different methods used when providing peer support; in this particular group we have pursued the avenue of social media.
NHS England (2016) has recently reported the success of social media in Diabetes care, showing improved engagement and compliance when using Facebook. This suggests that when used appropriately, social media can prove to be a powerful tool in the healthcare setting.
Aim: The group was set up to bring young people together, enable them to share their experiences and build confidence. We had experienced difficulties in getting our young adults to talk to each other in clinic and had been unsuccessful at running a focus group. As a result of this we had to try other methods to develop peer support.
Method: The YAW generated interest about a Facebook group for young people. From here we arranged to meet with the Trust’s communications team to discuss the rules behind the use of social media. Although there are several benefits, the use of social media has many negative implications and so we discussed the dos and don’ts for using Facebook, how to ensure professionalism is maintained and the Trust policy for the use of social media.
A professional Facebook account with no personal information other than name and role was set up and permission gained from an interested young person to add them as a friend. The communications team advised on a ‘secret’ group where patients are added to the group via email. This enables the posts and members to be kept completely private from the rest of the internet to maintain confidentiality of the members.
Meeting with the communications team and setting up the group was achieved within a few hours however adding people to the group has been time consuming due to requiring patient’s email addresses. The group was set up in September 2015 and currently has 16 members: 2 healthcare professionals and 14 patients. Approximately 30 minutes per week is dedicated to updating posts and adding new people.
Achievements: There are currently 16 members in the group. In the first two weeks we gained 6 members. These were people that went on a residential trip to the Peak District. We were able to discuss ideas about the group and they were able to spread the word and add other people.
South West collaboration: we have patients from all three renal units in Devon and Cornwall participating in group discussion.The members are generating constructive posts including videos about transplantation, sharing blog posts about living with kidney disease and fundraising ideas. The healthcare professionals have posted about useful tools e.g. apps to manage medications and links to useful kidney websites. We have also been able to advertise ‘meet ups’ which most people RSVP’d to via Facebook.
We have gained support from the whole clinical team who are now actively collecting email addresses for patients at their clinic appointments.
Challenges: Advertising the group to other young people due to its privacy settings proved time consuming. To gain members, we approached individuals to obtain their permission and details.
Summary: In summary, we have successfully started an informal peer support network using social media whilst overcomingissues around maintaining confidentiality and professionalism. Although only a small group at present, we are hopeful that interest will grow and participation in events will improve over time. Future plans include organising ‘meet ups’ through the group to enable face to face peer support. Ultimately hand the responsibility of the group to the young people, giving them the control to keep it going and continue the peer support for themselves.