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Peer-led approaches
Summary of the evidence
A review of 29 reviews (McGrath et al., 2006) found evidence in favour of the effectiveness of peer educators in school-based drug prevention programmes in:
- reducing all substances use at post-test (SMD = 0.24, 95 % CI 0.06–0.41, Z-test p < 0.01);
- reducing tobacco smoking at post-test (SMD = 0.17, 95 % CI 0.05–0.21, Z-test p < 0.01).
However, this relative effectiveness did not extend to 1 or 2 year follow-ups (McGrath et al., 2006).
