Peer Education as a Tool to Improve Health Knowledge for People Who Are Incarcerated: A Secondary Analysis of Data From the Indiana Peer Education Program ECHO.

Abstract

Considerable health inequities occur among people who are incarcerated, with ripple effects into broader community health. The Indiana Peer Education Program uses the Extension for Community Health Outcomes (ECHO) model to train people who are incarcerated as peer health educators. This analysis sought to evaluate the effectiveness of this program and explore emergent themes not covered in survey instruments. Survey data for both peer educators and their students were assessed using multivariate regression. Qualitative data were used to triangulate survey findings and explore additional themes via thematic analysis. Students showed improvements in knowledge scores and postrelease behavior intentions; peer educators improved in knowledge, health attitudes, and self-efficacy. Qualitative data affirmed survey findings and pointed toward peer educators acquiring expertise in the content they teach, and how to teach it, and that positive results likely expand beyond participants to others in prison, their families, and the communities to which they return. Though preliminary, the results confirm an earlier analysis of the New Mexico Peer Education Program ECHO, adding to the evidence that training individuals who are incarcerated as peer educators on relevant public health topics increases health knowledge and behavior intentions and likely results in improvements in personal and public health outcomes.