Peer mentorship for physically injured veterans in healthcare settings during ongoing military conflict: benefits and barriers.

BACKGROUND

Peer mentorship by individuals with lived experience is increasingly recognized as supporting recovery after severe injury. Yet evidence on its role in hospital-based rehabilitation remains limited, particularly in cases of severe war-related physical injury during ongoing military conflict. This study examines the benefits and barriers of peer mentorship within the Israel Defense Forces Casualties Affairs Unit, which trains previously injured veterans to accompany newly injured soldiers during hospitalization in healthcare settings as part of their reserve duty.

METHODS

The study employed a qualitative design, comprising 41 in-depth interviews: 21 with severely injured soldiers (with amputations, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, burns, polytrauma) who were assigned peer mentors, and 20 with parent-caregivers. Interviews underwent linguistic and thematic analyses.

RESULTS

Peer mentorship was found to support recovery across three domains: functional (independent functioning, exercising rights, community participation), social-emotional (fostering hope, belonging, trust, and mediation of re-entering the public space), and cognitive (autonomous choice, insight, identity reconstruction, and developing an effective mindset when interacting with others). Barriers were also identified across three domains: technical-functional (matching and timing issues), emotional (managing rejection, shattering the illusion of full recovery, appearance-related avoidance), and cognitive (discrepancies in worldviews).

CONCLUSION

Integrating peer mentorship into the post-acute continuum of care facilitates recovery of severely injured soldiers and their families but requires careful implementation. Healthcare systems and rehabilitation units may integrate peer mentorship as part of their comprehensive support framework. The study's significance lies in the need to develop diverse responses for war casualties following military conflicts worldwide.