# Referrals to Peer Support for Families in Pediatric Subspecialty Practices: A Qualitative Study

## TL;DR

This study explores how pediatric specialists in California refer families of children with special health needs to peer support services and what factors influence these referrals.

## Contribution

The study provides new insights into provider perspectives on peer support referrals, including facilitators, barriers, and the need for better resources and collaboration.

## Key findings

- Social workers and family liaisons are most often responsible for making peer support referrals.
- Providers emphasize the need for more funding, education, and a network to identify peer support resources.
- Collaboration among care teams and ease of information sharing facilitate the referral process.

## Abstract

Referrals to peer support (PS) can help families of children with special health care needs in providing emotional support, reducing feelings of stress and anxiety, and improving the care experience. This study aimed to gain providers’ perspectives about PS referrals for families of children with special health care needs, including their perspectives on logistics of, barriers to, and facilitators of making referrals as well as the perceived impacts of PS referrals.

This study builds on a 2022 survey of California pediatric subspecialists about the value and challenges of PS. The study team conducted 20 semistructured interviews with people from pediatric subspecialty practices in California and used a priori themes derived from the interview protocol to develop a codebook, code interview transcripts, conduct a thematic analysis, and summarize findings.

Respondents offered a variety of PS referrals inside and outside their institutions, tailoring referrals to each family’s needs and preferences. Social workers and family liaisons were most commonly responsible for making PS referrals. Respondents found that care team collaboration and ease of sharing information about PS resources among colleagues facilitated the referral process. Respondents noted a need for more PS resources, including funding, education, and the need for a network where providers can identify PS resources.

Encouraging PS program information-sharing within and across organizations could help connect more families to PS services. Future research should assess families’ experiences with PS referrals and services to understand approaches that can best meet their needs for information, instrumental, and emotional supports.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10995-025-04062-1.

What is already known on this subject?

What this study adds?

Referrals to peer support can help ease feelings of
stress and anxiety for families of children with special health care needs and improve their
understanding of diagnosis and treatment. Most California pediatric subspecialists support the
idea of making such referrals.

This study identifies factors that providers consider when referring
families to peer support, including logistical, cultural, and familial circumstances and functional
status. There appears to be considerable agreement among subspecialty practice staff about the
value of peer supports for families and the need to increase its availability.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10995-025-04062-1.