Health promotion among children and adolescents by peer education in the Hungarian and international literature

Systematic review

Abstract

Introduction: Peer education programs become more and more expected and popular in the field of health promotion among children and adolescents both at an international and a national level. In our literature review, we explore and describe studies and programs related to health promotion and peer education in different aspects. Based on our best knowledge this critical analysis is the broadest overview on the bibliography, so far.

Methodology: The research group built the database using the keywords “peer education” and “health promotion” or “adolescent/children” in PubMed and ScienceDirect databases and in 87 preselected scientific journals (e.g. Health Education Research, Journal of Adolescent Health, Egészségfejlesztés, Lege Artis Medicinae, Orvosi Hetilap, Új Diéta), in English, German, and Hungarian (101 journals altogether, between 1986 and 2017). 173 studies were analysed by predetermined variables, which data was supplemented with 21 Hungarian, non-published peer educational programs in health promotion among children and adolescents.

Results: Summarizing the results of our literature review, the definitions of the concepts in peer education are still very elusive in terms of the topic, peer educators, target group, program design, and the pedagogical methods. One of the main shortcomings of the analysed studies is the lack of a precise description of the applied pedagogical methods; another one is the lack of a valid, scientific measurement of the efficiency of health promotion programs. Hungarian peer educational initiations show a major hiatus about scientific measurement of the efficiency.

Conclusions: In various health promotion programs for a much more a precise description and emphasized attention of the applied pedagogical methods and a valid, scientific measurement of the efficacy of the programs are required, especially in the case of the Hungarian practice.