Peer-Led Alcohol Education program: a pharmacy student-led program for seventh-graders.
OBJECTIVE
To delay or discourage the use of alcohol by seventh-grade students through peer-led education. Peer-Led Alcohol Education (PLAE) program objectives were to: (1) educate students about alcohol use and (2) assess the differences between pharmacy student presenters and high school student (peer) presenters.


METHODS
Middle schools in rural Nebraska.


METHODS
PLAE focuses on normative beliefs, personal values, and pledging. Pharmacy students and high school students were trained to deliver alcohol education presentations to seventh-grade students. Evaluation results were compared among groups of seventh-grade students who received PLAE presentations from peer presenters and from pharmacy student presenters.


RESULTS
PLAE presentations were made to 342 seventh-grade students at 11 schools. Evaluation results suggest that pharmacy students projected more confidence in their presentations, used more creative prop selections, and were more effective communicators. High-school presenters had a greater ability to "relate" to the seventh-graders and thus were deemed more on-target with the information.


CONCLUSIONS
Evaluation findings suggest that rural seventh-grade students in Nebraska perceived that the PLAE program provides useful information to aid them in their decisions regarding alcohol use.
Fisher
L A
LA
Pharmacy Department, St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York, N.Y., USA.
Scott
D M
DM
Chase
J M
JM
Smith
M A
MA
D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D006266:Health Education; D013334:Students; D013339:Students, Pharmacy