How Peer Education Changed Peer Sexuality Educators' Self-Esteem, Personal Development, and Sexual Behavior

Abstract

Despite peer education's having become an extremely common strategy on many college campuses, very few outcome evaluations of these programs, particularly evaluations that focus on the peers themselves, have been performed. In this article, we report on a study that measured changes in self-esteem, personal development, and sexual behavior over 1 academic year in 65 sexuality peer educators from 10 universities in the United States. Objective measures of those traits demonstrated a shift in a positive direction; after analysis, however, the changes were not statistically significant. Qualitative data described increased levels of self-esteem, confidence, and safer sexual behavior as a major outcomes of the program, reinforcing the notion of the positive effects of peer education. Implications for program enhancement and considerations of the importance of evaluation are discussed, and recommendations for future research are offered.