Evaluation of Peer Specialists on VA PACTs (Peers on PACT)

In August 2014, the White House issued an Executive Action mandating that 25 VA medical centers place Peer Specialists (Veterans recovered from mental illness who are trained to support other Veterans with mental illness) on Primary Care Teams. Research shows that the success of adding new staff to existing teams can be improved by outside aid and facilitation. This quality improvement project will evaluate whether providing expanded support to half of the Primary Care Teams will lead to better outcomes when compared with teams that do not get extra support.

Peer Specialists are individuals with mental illness currently deployed to serve Veterans in specialty mental health clinics based upon their lived experiences. Peer Specialist delivered interventions have been shown to improve patient activation in multiple studies. In August 2014, the White House issued an Executive Action mandating that 25 VA medical centers pilot the deployment of Peer Specialists in their Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACTs). This project expands upon this nationally mandated Peer Specialist pilot with the integration of a cluster randomized implementation trial. This quality improvement project will evaluate the impact of facilitated implementation vs. standard implementation to support on the deployment of Peer Specialists in PACTs. The 25 sites will be divided into three cohorts (n=8,8,9). Each cohort will begin over three successive six-month blocks beginning in early 2016. Within each cohort, sites will be randomized to receive either facilitated or standard implementation. Facilitated Implementation sites will receive one year of support based on the i-PARIHS implementation model which includes training, implementation planning, ongoing external facilitation, feedback and consultation. Standard Implementation sites will receive written guidance and limited consultation by the investigators' team. The investigators will compare the groups on 1) the percent of their target population that actually received PS services; 2) ratings on PS workload productivity including ; 3) Peer Implementation and Services scores; 4) assessment of Veteran's change over time on the outcome variables of satisfaction, activation, and functioning ; 5) qualitative analysis of how well PSs were deployed and their impact.

Veterans, Veterans Health, Patient Compliance, Primary Health Care, Health Care Providers, Health Promotion

Standard Implementation sites will receive written guidance and limited consultation by the investigators' team.

Facilitated Implementation sites will receive one year of support based on the i-PARIHS implementation model which includes training, implementation planning, ongoing external facilitation, feedback and consultation.

Facilitated Implementation sites will receive one year of support based on the i-PARIHS implementation model which includes training, implementation planning, ongoing external facilitation, feedback and consultation

The Patient Activation Measure (PAM) is a 13-item survey that measures an individual's perceived ability to manage his or her illness and health behaviors and act as an effective patient. It has been shown to be reliable, valid, sensitive to change and correlates with measures of improved self-management. Scores for this outcome range from Zero to One Hundred with higher scores indicating higher levels of patient activation (better outcome).

The Team Development Measure is a 31 item self-report survey that evaluates the degree to which a team has and uses the components needed for highly effective teamwork including cohesiveness, communication, role clarity, and goals and means clarity. All components min scores are zero % and maximum is 100%; higher percentages mean positive responses.

The Peer Fidelity Measure assesses: a) peer specialist services and b) peer specialist implementation. The first part has 5 domains of peer services critical to the VA's peer support model (e.g., being a role model that recovery is possible; share personal recovery story). The second has 7 domains of implementation factors shown to either help or hinder PS deployment (e.g., role clarity, support for PS at higher organizational levels, regular supervision). Each domain has 1-2 questions (responses ranging from 1= not at all through 5=Very much with higher scores indicating higher fidelity. Min Value=1 and Max value =5. The Peer Fidelity Measure will be administered to both Peer Specialists and their supervisors. Analyses looked at discrepancies (difference in difference) between Peer Specialists and their Supervisors at each time point. Min discrepancy score is -4 and Max discrepancy score is 4. (calculated as Peer Specialist minus Peer Supervisor score)

The Satisfaction Index-Mental Health is a 12-item, unidimensional measure of patient satisfaction with care. It has been used with Veteran populations and has been shown to be valid, reliable, and sensitive to change in a sample of Veterans with mental illnesses being treated in primary care settings. It will be administered to Veterans who receive care from the Peer Specialists involved in the project. Minimum score is 12 and the maximum score is 72; higher scores mean more satisfaction.

This adjusted workload variables took into consideration both the employment period (many PSs did not start immediately or may have left prior to the end of the 2 years) and weekly hours worked (varying from one hour to 40 hours per week). Visits during each PS's employment period were divided by the total number of hours worked, then multiplied by 40 to calculate adjusted values for operationalization above. Because this variable was significantly skewed, we used a log transformation to improve their distributional properties. Differences between intervention conditions were then compared with a series of Analyses of Covariance models with age, gender and race as covariates. Since these variables are measured at the PS level, the covariates were the average across the Veterans sesn by each PS (mean age, percent White and percent male). N's are number of Veterans

See Variable 5 above for details about adjustment. Since this variable this is a Veteran level variable, a General Linear Mixed Model (GSLMM) was used with PS specified as a random effect and Veteran age, race and gender. N's are number of Veterans

This adjusted workload variables took into consideration both the employment period (many PSs did not start immediately or may have left prior to the end of the 2 years) and weekly hours worked (varying from one hour to 40 hours per week). Visits during each PS's employment period were divided by the total number of hours worked, then multiplied by 40 to calculate adjusted values for operationalization above. Because this variable was significantly skewed, we used a log transformation to improve their distributional properties. Differences between intervention conditions were then compared with a series of Analyses of Covariance models with age, gender and race as covariates. Since these variables are measured at the PS level, the covariates were the average across the Veterans sesn by each PS (mean age, percent White and percent male). N's are number of Veterans

This variable represents count of days from time study at each site started (baseline) until first service was delivered.

See Variable 5 above for details about adjustment. Since this variable this is a Veteran level variable, a General Linear Mixed Model (GSLMM) was used with PS specified as a random effect and Veteran age, race and gender. N's are number of Veterans

Inclusion Criteria: Included sites must be VA PACT Primary Care Health teams with existing Peer Specialists who are able to include an existing Peer Specialist on their team for a minimum of 10 hours per week for one year Exclusion Criteria: Non VA PACT teams, VA sites without an existing Peer Specialists, and VA PACT primary care teams that cannot commit a Peer Specialist to Primary Care for a minimum of 10 hours per week are excluded

Peeples AD, Muralidharan A, McCarthy S, Goldberg R, Kuykendall L, Vineyard N, Chinman M. Barriers and Enablers to Implementing Peer Specialists in Veterans Health Administration Primary Care: a Qualitative Study. J Gen Intern Med. 2023 Feb;38(3):707-714. doi: 10.1007/s11606-022-07782-0. Epub 2022 Sep 20.

Chinman M, Goldberg R, Daniels K, Muralidharan A, Smith J, McCarthy S, Medoff D, Peeples A, Kuykendall L, Vineyard N, Li L. Implementation of peer specialist services in VA primary care: a cluster randomized trial on the impact of external facilitation. Implement Sci. 2021 Jun 7;16(1):60. doi: 10.1186/s13012-021-01130-2.

Chinman M, Daniels K, Smith J, McCarthy S, Medoff D, Peeples A, Goldberg R. Provision of peer specialist services in VA patient aligned care teams: protocol for testing a cluster randomized implementation trial. Implement Sci. 2017 May 2;12(1):57. doi: 10.1186/s13012-017-0587-7.