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Starting an HIV/AIDS peer education program in your community

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Abstract

Youth are strongly influenced by their peers, but often do not accept or retain information presented by education or health professionals. Consequently, peer educators can help spread important social messages to youth in the community. An AmeriCorps member with the National AIDS Foundation helped the Tacoma-Pierce County Chapter of the American Red Cross, in Washington, develop a youth-led HIV/AIDS peer education program entitled, HEY! (HIV Education for Youth). Excerpted from the second place award-winning paper at the 1998 Northwest National Service Symposium, hosted by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

Issue

Youth get most of their information about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) from other youth. There exists such a high level of misinformation about the diseases that many youths have a false sense of security. Trained peer educators have accurate information to help their fellow young adults in making choices. They also can help their peers develop skills for decision making.

Action

Pawnee Brown, an AmeriCorps member with the National AIDS Foundation, helped the Tacoma-Pierce County Chapter of the American Red Cross, develop a youth-led HIV/AIDS peer education program entitled, HEY! (HIV Education for Youth). The following three points were highlighted as essential to the success of a peer education program.

Supportive Host Site

Support staff for the program need a foundation in the topic that the youth will present within the community. In the case of our project, a strong background in the facts about HIV is a must. A classroom is needed for meetings and training. Access to a copy machine and a computer with Internet capability is a plus. After establishing a curriculum, look for community grants to support your program as it grows. This is easier to achieve if you have nonprofit status under Federal Tax Code 501c-3.
Recruitment

Most youth want to be part of a program. They just don't know it yet! You need to talk about the advantages of being a peer educator in the community. Make a list so that you can show the youth what your program has to offer. (See example in full text.) Print and media promotion is great but the greatest success comes from presentations to local youth by the peer educators themselves. This group has contact with other youth groups, school officials, health education teachers, and school nurses.
Leadership

Everyone brings valuable experience, ideas, and knowledge to the group. Adults should provide the group leadership in the beginning. As they grow, let youth have ownership and support their efforts through the host site. Adults can help with obstacles, but the youth need to take ownership of the program. Some of the direction seen in other successful programs:
- Youth need to be involved in every aspect of the program
- Programs need to match the developmental level of the young people they aim to reach
- Program information must be accurate, up-to-date, honest, and frank
- "Safer behavior" is a repertoire of skills that young people will need to learn and practice
- To maintain healthy behavior, young people need social and material support
- Society needs to encourage and support healthy behavior
- It's essential to give special attention to young people with special needs
- Aim for measurable goals
To be effective, instruction must be appropriate for the youths' age levels and engage them in participatory learning activities. The program is most productive when young people have the opportunity to develop practical knowledge about the subject, in this case HIV/AIDS, and are given a chance to observe and demonstrate new skills. Also, youth must learn to consider choices that support healthy behaviors and practice making healthy choices. Not only must the education be appropriate, it also has to be contemporary, factual, and most of all, medically current.

Context

Many programs select youth to be peer educators because of their knowledge and their academic performance. The HEY! Program encourages ALL youth from ALL walks of life to participate. The intent is for youth to feel a sense of community because they are part of the whole community. Peer educators completed a 24-hour training course before presenting HIV/AIDS information to other youth. The education programs were primarily held in high school classes. Some were requested for middle school classes.

Citation

Brown, Pawnee. "How to Start a Successful Peer-Education Program in Your Community." NW National Service Symposium.Portland, Oregon: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 1998.

Outcome

Peer pressure is a strong influence in youth making unhealthy decisions, and the pressure to become sexually active is part of being a teen. With the accurate information, decision-making skills, and prevention skills that are taught to peer educators, they have the ammunition to educate other youth on making healthy choices.

Not only do youth listen to their peers; studies have shown that when information is given to considerably younger peers there is successful behavior change. The experience of being a peer educator helps youth gain leadership, expand their social interaction, build strong resumes, and continue to build healthy communities.

Evidence

As it can take many years to see the benefits of behavior change, no conclusive evidence can yet be reported regarding the HEY! Program. Previous research has shown that several peer-based community level interventions can give results and contribute to reaching hard-to-reach youth in settings where young adults congregate. Other studies have reported that younger youth that participate in peer-based HIV/AIDS education classes were five times less likely to engage in sexual activity than those who didn't participate in such classes.

As a result of his leadership of the HEY! Program, Pawnee Brown was named the Washington State Educator of the Year in 1999. He is the only person to win that award twice, having also received the award in 1995.