W3 Framework: Understanding, demonstrating, and improving the impact of peer work in public health

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Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS), La Trobe University, June 2022

The W3 Project (funded by the Australian Government Department of Health) is a collaboration between researchers from ARCSHS and peer researchers from community organisations working in Australia’s public health response to HIV and hepatitis C.  The W3 Framework is a systems map that shows how peer work fits within an overall public health response.

By peer work, we mean the organised community response by members of marginalised, vulnerable, or ‘at-risk’ communities within an overall health response.

We can use it to help us understand, demonstrate, and improve the impact of peer work.

Furthermore, because peer work plays such a vital role in improving community health, using the W3 Framework to help guide decisions can improve the overall impact of public health responses and policies.

Using the W3 Framework can help:

  • Peer workers plan and evaluate their work
  • Mainstream health workers improve their own work’s impact through collaborating with peer-led responses
  • Policymakers draw on peer expertise to develop more fair and effective health-related policies and laws to improve population health and wellbeing
  • Researchers to understand peer work and the role of peers in a health response

The W3 Website and Guides are newly published and may be accessed via the links below.  They will be launched on Tuesday 28/06/2022, via Zoom – find out more about the launch here.

Access the W3 Framework:

By J Pope

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