Exploring Perspectives on Injured Trauma Survivor Peer Interventions at a Level I Trauma Center using Rapid Assessment Procedures

Abstract

Injured trauma survivors’ perspectives on a peer-integrated intervention following traumatic injury have not been well studied. This investigation built upon and extended Rapid Assessment Procedure Informed Clinical Ethnography (RAPICE) methods to thematically code 120 traumatic injury survivors’ responses to questions regarding the utility of a peer-integrated intervention. Most respondents reported perceived benefits to a peer-integrated intervention, including the hope that a peer support person could provide emotional support, medical and practical advice and medical care navigation. A smaller subgroup of respondents felt that working with a peer support person would not be helpful and could result in emotional burden. This investigation also found that using RAPICE methods to deductively develop a priori thematic domains and code responses was an efficient and successful method of capturing and categorizing qualitative interview responses.