African Americans chronically managing their diabetes benefit from receiving support from peers with shared experiences. Peer support is known to improve the well-being of individuals receiving support, however, there is limited literature on the experiences of those providing the support. The Peers Supporting Health Literacy, Self-efficacy, Self-Advocacy, and Adherence (Peers LEAD) program pairs Peer Ambassadors who are adherent to their diabetes medication, with Peer Buddies who need support with their medication adherence. Peer Ambassadors engage with Peer Buddies as they receive diabetes information, develop the skills and motivation to address identified psychosocial/sociocultural issues to enhance their diabetes medication adherence. This study qualitatively explores the experiences of African Americans who provided peer support in the Peers LEAD medication adherence intervention.

Emergent themes provided insight into Peer Ambassador’ rationale for providing peer support and the benefits and challenges they experienced in their roles. Themes regarding their rationale included: their desire to receive support for their diabetes self-management as well as to contribute to their communities in reducing the stigma associated with diabetes. The perceived benefits they gained centered on creating interpersonal connections, experiencing personal growth as they adapted to their roles, and experiencing opportunities to contribute to an intervention regardless of professional training. Peer Ambassadors reflected on the challenges which included difficulties on coming to terms with their role as Peer Ambassadors, seeing African Americans experience complications associated with diabetes, and navigating supporting Peer Buddies who are also burdened with the challenges their family members are experiencing with managing their diabetes.