Parallel Workshops
Peer-led interventions in correctional settings have gained increasing attention as a strategy to leverage lived experience to improve health knowledge, facilitate rehabilitation, and support re-entry. This presentation highlights the results of a strategic literature review synthesizing empirical and review-based research on peer-led programs in corrections.
Evidence suggests that peer-led models are associated with improvements in health knowledge, behavioral outcomes, and psychosocial well-being, while also benefiting peer facilitators themselves. However, methodological limitations – particularly a lack of rigorous experimental designs and long-term outcome data – limit definitive conclusions about their impact on recidivism and system-level change.
Despite these limitations, meaningful best practices emerge from the current literature base:
• Foster institutional support from correctional staff.
• Establish clear role definitions and boundaries.
• Provide comprehensive training and supervision for peer facilitators.
• Integrate peer-led interventions with existing services.
• Address concerns related to confidentiality and trust.
This presentation will provide an overview of these best practices and implementation frameworks for implementation, as well as examples of existing peer led intervention models that incorporate these principles. These models include the interLIFT technology-supported program delivery model in the United States and the systemic integration of lived experience with continuity across various specific intervention designs in HM Prison & Probation Service in the United Kingdom.
Paula Smith, Ph.D. is Professor in the School of Criminal Justice and Director of the Center for Justice and Communities at the University of Cincinnati. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of New Brunswick, Saint John in 2006. Her research interests include offender classification and assessment, correctional rehabilitation, the psychological effects of incarceration, program implementation and evaluation, the transfer of knowledge to practitioners and policymakers, and meta-analysis. She has published more than 100 journal articles, book chapters and conference presentations on these topics.
Dr. Smith has directed numerous federal and state funded research projects, including studies of prisons, community-based correctional programs, juvenile drug courts, probation and parole departments, and mental health services. She has been involved in evaluations of more than 400 correctional programs throughout the United States.
In addition to her research experience, Dr. Smith has considerable frontline experience working with a variety of correctional populations. Currently, she provides training and technical assistance to criminal justice agencies throughout the United States and internationally. She also serves as the Director of Training and Applied Research for Rite of Passage, a national provider of services and programs for youth.
