Peer work for people affected by poverty: Concept, implementation and impact
Many people experiencing or at risk of poverty suffer from health problems due to their situation and often do not claim social benefits. How does peer work influence access to support and their health?
Factsheet
- Schools involved School of Social Work
- Institute(s) Institute for Childhood, Youth and Family
- Strategic thematic field Thematic field "Caring Society"
- Funding organisation SNSF
- Duration (planned) 01.08.2025 - 31.07.2029
- Head of project Prof. Dr. Emanuela Chiapparini
- Project staff Kevin Bitsch
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Partner
Stadt Bern, Sozialamt
Ville de Neuchâtel, Dicastère de la culture, intégration e cohésion sociale
Stadt Biel, Abteilung Soziales
Bundesamt für Sozialversicherungen BSV
Bundesamt für Gesundheit
Gesundheitsförderung Schweiz
Situation
According to the definition of the Swiss Conference of Welfare Organisations and the Federal Statistical Office, 745,000 people were living in poverty in Switzerland in 2021 and 1,244,112 people were at risk of poverty. Nevertheless, a large proportion of these people in Switzerland do not claim any social benefits. According to recent research findings the health of people affected by and at risk of poverty deteriorates in the three years before receiving social benefits as well as during the first years after receiving such aid. This illustrates how difficult it is to access support services and the negative impact this has. Effective prevention and intervention measures are therefore required for people living in or at risk of poverty. However, people living in poverty are often difficult to identify and reach. Due to shame and a low sense of self-worth and self-efficacy, they withdraw socially. Recent findings consider the expansion of low-threshold counselling and information services to be appropriate and urgently needed measures. The latter facilitate access to support services, but also inform about ways to promote well-being and prevent illness. It is necessary to involve people with lived experience of poverty in the development and evaluation of such solutions. Their involvement ensures that the target groups are reached and that the support is effective.
Course of action
Peer work with people affected by poverty and peers who have recently experienced a similar situation to them offers a promising low-threshold form of support to improve access to services. In the research project POPCORN (Peer work for people living in poverty to improve access to support services and well-being: Approaches, implementation and impact), people with experience of poverty, experts and the research team collaboratively develop a tailored peer work concept for the cities of Bern, Neuchâtel, and Biel/Bienne. The concept will then be implemented in these three cities and evaluated using a multi-method approach. Particularly in the field of psychiatry, we can draw on international and national research on peer work. However, little research has been conducted into peer work in the context of poverty. This research project aims to fill this gap. To achieve this, peer work is placed within a broader context, as people affected by or at risk of poverty can only be effectively supported if comprehensive changes are achieved—not only on an individual level but also on societal and institutional levels. The findings from the POPCORN project build on the key theme of 'participation' of the National Platform against Poverty of the Federal Social Insurance Office and the topic ’health inequalities’ of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). The FOPH aims to improve health by focusing on social conditions.
