“You can kind of just feel the power behind what someone's saying”: a participatory-realist evaluation of peer support for young people coping with complex mental health and substance use challenges

Table 3 Characteristics of survey participants, service use and client perceptions

Participant characteristics^a	n	%	M	SD
Age			22.43	3.15
Gender
Girl/woman	44	57
Boy/man	14	18
Alternative gender	18	23
Racial background
Asian	16	21
Black	7	9
Middle Eastern	4	5
Other	5	6
White	39	50
Service usage
Length of time as client at LOFT
0–6 months	32	42.6
6–12 months	9	12.0
1–2 years	18	24.0
over 2 years	16	21.3
Length of time receiving peer services
0–3 months	32	43.2
3–6 months	8	10.8
6–12 months	12	16.2
Over 1 year	22	29.7

^aThere was very little missing data for demographic information. Only one respondent preferred not to provide gender. Two indicated that they did not know their ethnoracial background, three preferred not to answer and one respondent skipped this question. Percentages are based on valid data

ISSN: 1472-6963