Table 2.

Themes emerging from the included papers from the two identified models of peer support: diabetic patients and community health workers

MODEL 1: DIABETIC PATIENTS		MODEL 2: COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS
THEME 1: RECRUITMENT
SUB-THEME:		SUB-THEME:
1. Responsibility	Recruited by healthcare professionals at the clinic or by the research team [30, 31, 35]
2. Origin	From the local community [30, 31, 33–35]	1. Origin	CHWs from the local community from existing CHW infrastructure [32, 36, 38, 39]
THEME 2: SELECTION
SUB-THEME:		SUB-THEME:
1. Criteria:	Good glycaemic control [30, 31, 35, 40]	1. Criteria	Education levels Some high school education [36, 38]; high school diploma [41]; primary education [41]
	Leadership qualities [30, 33–35, 40]		Experience Two years of training; healthcare or community experience; subjected to an entrance examination [41]
	Achieve pass mark [34]		Achieve pass mark [37, 39]
THEME 3: TRAINING
SUB-THEME:		SUB-THEME:
1. Provision	Health-care specialists [30, 31, 33, 35]	1. Provision	Health-care specialists [36, 39] Trainers, trained by research members [38]
2. Duration	Two days [31, 33, 35, 40] Three days [30] Four days [34]	2. Duration	Initial four-days, followed by two days [36] Initial five days followed by five days [39] Four eight-hour days, followed by four hours per month for six months [38] 10 eight-hour days [32] Initial six hours, two hours follow-up [37]
3. Content	Diabetes-specific information [31, 33, 35, 40] Communication skills [30, 31, 34, 35, 40] Tailoring information for the patient [31, 33, 34, 40] Effective individual and group management [30, 40]	3. Content	Diabetes-specific information [32, 36–39] Communication skills [32, 36, 38, 39] Tailoring information for the patient [32, 36] Behaviour change principles [38, 39]
4. Theoretical basis for training	Socio-constructivist theory [34] Social cognitive theory [35]	4. Theoretical basis for training	Motivational interviewing principles [36, 38, 39]
THEME 4: MODE OF PEER INTERVENTION
SUB-THEME:		SUB-THEME:
1. Group interventions	[30, 33, 34, 40]	1. Group interventions	[36, 37, 39, 41]
2. Individual interventions	[31, 35]	2. Individual interventions	[32, 38]
3. Additional strategy	Telephone [30, 31, 35, 40]	3. Additional strategy to group intervention	Individual face-to-face [37, 39, 41]
THEME 5: FREQUENCY OF PEER INTERVENTION
SUB-THEME:		SUB-THEME:
1. Weekly	[30, 31, 33]	1. Weekly	[32, 39, 41]
2. Monthly	[30, 34, 35, 40]	2. Monthly	[36, 38, 41]
		3. Three-monthly	[37, 41]
THEME 6: DURATION OF PEER INTERVENTION
SUB-THEME:		SUB-THEME:
1. Four weeks	Follow-up at three and six months [33]	1. 40 days	[32]
2. Three months	[31] Follow-up at weeks 24 and 35 [35]	2. Four months	[36, 39, 41]
3. Six months	[30, 40]	3. Six months	[37, 38, 41]
4. 12 months	[34]	4. 12 months	[41]
THEME 7: SUPERVISION OF PEERS
SUB-THEME:		SUB-THEME:
1. Audio-recording	Group meetings were recorded and provided to research team for feedback [30]	1. Evaluation of CHWs	CHWs were evaluated by researcher at health centre and given feedback [36, 38]
2. Telephone contact	The research team contacted the peer supporters weekly [30]
3. Debriefing meetings	Two fortnightly and two-monthly debriefing meetings [35]
4. Clinic visits	Supervision at the monthly clinic visits, feedback was provided [35]