Introduction: Early initiation of sex increases the risks of unprotected sex, multiple partners, and sexually transmitted infections. The effective factors of premarital sexual intercourse have not been widely studied. Objective: This study aimed at identifying environmental factors influencing premarital sexual intercoursefromthe Iranian youths’ perspective. Materials and M...

This article offers one theoretical perspective of peer support and attempts to define the elements that, when reinforced through education and training, provide a new cultural context for healing and recovery. Persons labeled with psychiatric disability have become victims of social and cultural ostracism and consequently have developed a sense of self that reinforces the "patient" identity. E...

Family Therapy has long had an interest in systems theory as a way of understanding the many complex factors contributing to the way that people make meaning through interactions with one another (Boscolo et al, 1987; Bateson, 1972; Anderson, 1997). Peer support in mental health has much to learn from this theoretical vantage point. As a somewhat family like environment, peer support utilizes d...

Few studies have explored how peer-run hospital diversion services can contribute to consumers' perceptions of care and recovery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a peer-run hospital diversion program (PRHDP) on mental health consumers' recovery; to compare the consumers' experience of environment, services, and staff with a non-peer-run acute inpatient program (NPRIP); t...

We conducted a comprehensive narrative review and used a systematic search strategy to identify studies related to peer support among adults with mental health difficulties. The purposes of this review were to describe the principles, effects and benefits of peer support documented in the published literature, to discuss challenging aspects of peer support and to investigate lessons from peer s...