title: "Confronted with paperwork": information and documentation in peer support.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Peer support has a unique philosophy of practice, which is reflected in the way information is handled.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the way peer supporters use documentation in their work and explore tensions this generates.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative study based on two individual or group interviews with each of 37 peer supporters and peer-support managers in Aotearoa New Zealand.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Peer supporters challenged disciplinary uses of documentation by either keeping minimal information about their interactions with peers, or keeping notes in a collaborative, empowering and transparent manner. This generated tensions with regard to the wider mental health system, particularly in relation to an emerging national database of mental health service use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Funders and planners need to be aware of the reasons for some peer-support services' reluctance to participate in mental health information strategies. Peer-support documentation approaches might usefully be adopted across the mental health sector.
authors.affiliation: School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand. A.Scott@canterbury.ac.nz
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Doughty
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D003219:Confidentiality; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D004282:Documentation; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D009520:New Zealand; D033283:Patient Access to Records; D010379:Peer Group; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012944:Social Support