In behavioral health, peer supporters draw on their own lived experiences to help patients feel empowered, supported and hopeful. A new policy paper published in Psychiatric Services warns that providers who lean too heavily on robots to offer peer support risk undermining this essential human element.
Margaret "Peggy" Swarbrick, associate director of the Center of Alcohol and Substance Use Studies at the Rutgers Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, and Nev Jones, an associate professor of social work at the University of Pittsburgh, authored the paper.
