Peer support for housing challenges: Experiences of parents in low-income families in Norway

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Peer support brings together people with similar concerns or experiences, enabling them to explore solutions together and empowering them. In a Norwegian municipal action research project, parents from low-income families participated in a peer support programme to help solve their housing challenges. Aim: The aim of the study was to describe how parents in low-income families’ experience participation in a peer support programme that focused on their housing situation as a crucial aspect of their lives. Methods: The research approach involved participant observation, a focus-group interview, and in-depth personal interviews. Findings: The findings describe how participants changed from social isolation to shared experiences of reciprocity and mutuality and from powerlessness to developing personal strength. They started to act more assertively in everyday life, and they met social service providers with a new mentality. Concluding discussion: The discussion focuses on how participation in peer support groups may strengthen participants’ development towards more empowered citizens. It also addresses the relevance of peer support groups for persons using social services and concludes that peer support groups may be a supplementary way to solve challenges of limited resources in the municipal social housing sector.

Keywords

• Low-income families
• housing challenges
• peer support
• empowerment