Training Peer Sexual Health Educators

Abstract

Peer sexual health education programs are widespread on college campuses, but little research has assessed the effect of these programs on the peer educators. This study employed a repeated measures design to examine changes over the academic quarter in the knowledge, counseling self-efficacy, and sexual behavior of 70 college students enrolled in three different peer educator training programs. Skills necessary for effective sexual health counseling, including knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases and counseling self-efficacy, significantly increased from pre-test to post-test. There were no significant changes in risky sexual behavior, measured by the number of partners and nonuse of barrier methods during penetrative encounters. Participants in a student-taught training program, which prepares enrollees to work in an on-campus resource center, demonstrated the most improved knowledge and counseling self-efficacy. These results suggest that programs training peer educators may improve trainees' knowledge and confidence in their abilities to counsel other students about sexual health.

Key Words:

• Peer education
• college students

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Britt L. Ehrhardt

Britt L. Ehrhardt recently received a BA in Psychology with Honors and Distinction from Stanford University. A recipient of the Tom Ford Fellowship in Philanthropy, she now works as a Grants Analyst for a foundation in California that serves children and youth affected by HIV/AIDS. Her previous published research examines the links between public policy and the health of underserved populations.

John D. Krumboltz

John D. Krumboltz, Professor of Education and Psychology at Stanford University, CA, earned his PhD in educational psychology and counseling from the University of Minnesota. He worked as a research psychologist for the U.S. Air Force and taught at Michigan State University before moving to Stanford. Among many other honors, John has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, three Outstanding Research Awards from the American Counseling Association, and the American Psychological Association's Leona Tyler Award, the nation's foremost award in the field of counseling psychology. In 2004, the American Counseling Association designated him a Living Legend in Counseling.

Cheryl Koopman

Cheryl Koopman is Associate Research Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. A major focus of her research is to identify psychosocial factors and interventions to improve quality of life and prevent sexual risk behavior and substance use among persons in high-risk populations. She has over 200 publications on these and related subjects. Her HIV prevention research has focused on gay and runaway adolescents, delinquent adolescents, college students, HIV-positive men and women attending public medical clinics, and adolescents/adults living in Botswana, Kenya, South Africa, Haiti, Guatemala, and India.