Taking Care of Friends: The Implementation Evaluation of a Peer-Focused School Program Using First Aid to Reduce Adolescent Risk-Taking and Injury

Injury is a leading cause of adolescent deaths, with risk-taking associated with a sizeable proportion of injuries and many of those risks undertaken in the presence of peers or with peers’ knowledge. Novel ways to promote safety are required and using the peer-relationship may be an important mechanism for prevention. This study reports on the implementation evaluation of the Skills for Preventing Injury in Youth (SPIY) program. SPIY is a high-school program designed to reduce injury by encouraging peers to look out for one another and prevent risk-taking, complemented by developing peer helping and first aid skills as well as school connectedness. 152 students and 12 teachers who delivered SPIY participated in separate 30 min focus groups and reported on students’ understanding of peer protective behaviour and the program implementation (adherence, dose, quality of program delivery, and participant responsiveness). Students reported on many approaches to protecting friends and both students and teachers reported they found the program interesting, interactive, and able to be delivered. Peer protection messages were relevant and acceptable to teachers and students in a risk-taking harm reduction program to reduce adolescent injury.

The Effectiveness of Positive Peer Culture with Youth at Risk

Youth in conflict with adults often gravitate to friends who support high-risk behavior. Various group treatment programs have sought to reverse this negative peer influence with two different strategies. In peer pressure programs, youth discipline one another to reinforce behavior norms. In peer helping programs such as Positive Peer Culture (PPC), youth support one another by solving problems and building strengths. While both approaches have been shown to improve short-term behavior, peer-helping creates long-term change in prosocial values, thinking, and behavior. This article reviews relevant research on the effectiveness of Positive Peer Culture and reports a study comparing recidivism of a residential PPC program in corrections with matched controls. Differences were apparent after 12 months as PPC groups had significantly lower recidivism at each quarterly interval of the 24-month follow-up period.