Workplace experiences of mental health consumer peer workers in New South Wales, Australia: a survey study exploring job satisfaction, burnout and turnover intention

Abstract

Background: Consumer peer workers are individuals with lived experience of mental health issues and recovery who are employed to use their lived experience to support others. The consumer peer workforce has expanded substantially in recent years. While some research has explored the workplace experiences of peer workers, no previous studies have explored job satisfaction, burnout or turnover intention for this workforce. Methods: Consumer peer workers in New South Wales, Australia were invited to complete a survey designed to explore their workplace experiences. The survey included measures of job satisfaction, burnout, turnover intention, job demands and job resources, and satisfaction with supervision, professional development and opportunities for career progression. Questions also explored positive and negative aspects of positions. Analyses included exploration of the relationships between of job satisfaction, burnout, turnover intention, job demands and job resources as well as tabulation of common positive and negative aspects of positions. Results were also compared with findings from a previous study exploring workplace experiences of other mental health workers. Results: A total of 67 peer workers participated in the study. Overall job satisfaction, burnout (disengagement and exhaustion) and turnover intention for peer workers was not significantly different to other mental health workers. Job satisfaction, disengagement, exhaustion and turnover intention were all significantly interrelated. Job resources of social support, job control, feedback, and rewards and recognition were associated with positive workplace experiences and the job demand of "physical environment" was most substantially associated with poorer workplace experiences. The most common positive aspect of positions was "connecting with consumers" and the most common

The Influence of Mental Health on Job Satisfaction: Mediating Effect of Psychological Capital and Social Capital

“…Social capital and psychological capital exert influences on entrepreneurial performance ( 14 ), entrepreneurial intentions ( 71 ), quality of life ( 72 ), and second victim severity ( 73 ). Therefore, future research can explore more from the dual perspectives of psychological capital and social capital, such as job performance and job burnout ( 74 , 75 ).…”

The impact of working as a peer worker in mental health services: a longitudinal mixed methods study

“…The peer worker benchmarking exercise in England estimated sickness absences from work for peer workers in 2019 at 22% [ 29 ], considerably higher than levels of absence across the mental health workforce. Noting the possibility that peer workers were largely compared, in that exercise, to established professionals in more secure, better supported posts, this was not the case in our study, reflecting similar findings from Australia [ 28 ]. This variation in absence rates suggests that other factors, perhaps relating to working conditions [ 52 ] or the organisational support and training provided for peer workers [ 53 , 54 ], might be impacting absence and turnover.…”

“…A longitudinal study of burnout among 152 peer workers in veterans’ mental health in the US indicated that levels of burnout were similar to other mental health workers and that, while levels of burnout increased in the first 6 months of employment, this increase was not observed over the first year of employment [ 27 ]. A recent survey of 67 peer workers in one state in Australia indicated that job satisfaction, burnout and turnover intention for peer workers was not significantly different to other mental health workers [ 28 ]. In contrast, recent benchmarking data from the UK, among 862 peer workers in National Health Service (NHS) mental health services, indicated substantially higher levels of staff absence and turnover than in the NHS workforce as a whole [ 29 ].…”

Keeping millennials from quitting due to work stress: The roles of mattering, commitment and entrepreneurship orientation

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