Evaluating the Impact of a School-Based Youth-Led Health Education Program for Adolescent Females in Mumbai, India

Background: India’s 120 million adolescent girls often have limited opportunities to receive health education, as health-related content in school curricula can be minimal, and the few existing external interventions for this demographic rarely cover multiple topics. Objectives: This study conducted...

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Autores principales:	Priya Shankar, Dana Sievers, Ricky Sharma
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Ubiquity Press 2020
Materias:	Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/5d97503eb4b04223afa617965ff1eaf5
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:5d97503eb4b04223afa617965ff1eaf52021-12-02T08:45:18ZEvaluating the Impact of a School-Based Youth-Led Health Education Program for Adolescent Females in Mumbai, India2214-999610.5334/aogh.2791https://doaj.org/article/5d97503eb4b04223afa617965ff1eaf52020-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/2791https://doaj.org/toc/2214-9996Background: India’s 120 million adolescent girls often have limited opportunities to receive health education, as health-related content in school curricula can be minimal, and the few existing external interventions for this demographic rarely cover multiple topics. Objectives: This study conducted a program evaluation of Girls Health Champions, a school-based peer education intervention in Mumbai, India that educates girls about leading causes of adolescent morbidity and mortality, including nutrition, mental health, and sexual & reproductive health. Methods: Female participants ages 12 to 16 in the eighth, ninth, and tenth standards were recruited at five participating schools in Mumbai, India to learn a multi-topic health curriculum from their peers, with a subset of ninth standard participants in each school trained as the peer educators. Using a quasi-experimental design, participant survey data was collected three times during the 2016–2017 academic year: at baseline, immediately following the peer-led education sessions, and five months following these sessions. Outcomes of interest included change in knowledge levels and health attitudes following the intervention, as well as retention at mid-year. An additional outcome was the change in self-reported leadership skills of peer educators before and after participating. Findings: Compared to baseline, participants demonstrated statistically significant increases in knowledge levels (+48%, p < 0.001) and positive shifts in health-related attitudes (+42%, p < 0.001). These changes were maintained at mid-year (+29% for knowledge levels, p < 0.001; +37% for attitudes, p < 0.001). Findings were consistent when data was stratified by standard and peer educator status (peer educators versus non-peer educators). Peer educators also demonstrated a statistically significant increase in their interest in health promotion. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the peer education delivery model and finds school-based, peer-led programs covering a range of adolescent health topics can significantly increase knowledge and shift attitudes of program participants. Such benefits can accrue to both peer educators and non-peer educator program participants.Priya ShankarDana SieversRicky SharmaUbiquity PressarticleInfectious and parasitic diseasesRC109-216Public aspects of medicineRA1-1270ENAnnals of Global Health, Vol 86, Iss 1 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
spellingShingle	Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Priya Shankar Dana Sievers Ricky Sharma Evaluating the Impact of a School-Based Youth-Led Health Education Program for Adolescent Females in Mumbai, India
description	Background: India’s 120 million adolescent girls often have limited opportunities to receive health education, as health-related content in school curricula can be minimal, and the few existing external interventions for this demographic rarely cover multiple topics. Objectives: This study conducted a program evaluation of Girls Health Champions, a school-based peer education intervention in Mumbai, India that educates girls about leading causes of adolescent morbidity and mortality, including nutrition, mental health, and sexual & reproductive health. Methods: Female participants ages 12 to 16 in the eighth, ninth, and tenth standards were recruited at five participating schools in Mumbai, India to learn a multi-topic health curriculum from their peers, with a subset of ninth standard participants in each school trained as the peer educators. Using a quasi-experimental design, participant survey data was collected three times during the 2016–2017 academic year: at baseline, immediately following the peer-led education sessions, and five months following these sessions. Outcomes of interest included change in knowledge levels and health attitudes following the intervention, as well as retention at mid-year. An additional outcome was the change in self-reported leadership skills of peer educators before and after participating. Findings: Compared to baseline, participants demonstrated statistically significant increases in knowledge levels (+48%, p < 0.001) and positive shifts in health-related attitudes (+42%, p < 0.001). These changes were maintained at mid-year (+29% for knowledge levels, p < 0.001; +37% for attitudes, p < 0.001). Findings were consistent when data was stratified by standard and peer educator status (peer educators versus non-peer educators). Peer educators also demonstrated a statistically significant increase in their interest in health promotion. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the peer education delivery model and finds school-based, peer-led programs covering a range of adolescent health topics can significantly increase knowledge and shift attitudes of program participants. Such benefits can accrue to both peer educators and non-peer educator program participants.
format	article
author	Priya Shankar Dana Sievers Ricky Sharma
author_facet	Priya Shankar Dana Sievers Ricky Sharma
author_sort	Priya Shankar
title	Evaluating the Impact of a School-Based Youth-Led Health Education Program for Adolescent Females in Mumbai, India
title_short	Evaluating the Impact of a School-Based Youth-Led Health Education Program for Adolescent Females in Mumbai, India
title_full	Evaluating the Impact of a School-Based Youth-Led Health Education Program for Adolescent Females in Mumbai, India
title_fullStr	Evaluating the Impact of a School-Based Youth-Led Health Education Program for Adolescent Females in Mumbai, India
title_full_unstemmed	Evaluating the Impact of a School-Based Youth-Led Health Education Program for Adolescent Females in Mumbai, India
title_sort	evaluating the impact of a school-based youth-led health education program for adolescent females in mumbai, india
publisher	Ubiquity Press
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/5d97503eb4b04223afa617965ff1eaf5
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Evaluating the Impact of a School-Based Youth-Led Health Education Program for Adolescent Females in Mumbai, India

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