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.
Setting: Middle schools in rural Nebraska.
Design: 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.
Conclusion: 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.