The effects of a peer-led training program on female students’ self-esteem in public secondary schools in Shiraz

Introduction: Low self-esteem in adolescence is one of the risk factors fornegative outcomes in important domains of adulthood life. Due to the lackof trials based on modern methods of teaching in the field of self-esteem, this study aimed to investigate the effects of a peer-led training program on female second graders’ self-esteem in public secondary schools in Shiraz.Methods: The present study is an educational randomized controlled trial. 223 public school female students in the second grade were selected with the Multistage random cluster sampling method. The selected Schools were assigned randomly to experimental and control groups. The data were collected before, one and six weeks after an intervention in the control and experimental group, using Pope’s 5-Scale Test of Self-Esteem with Cronbakh’s alpha reliability of 0.85. The educational intervention in the experimental group was a peer-led approach, using discussion techniques in small groups (the group work, role play and group play) and a 5-volume training manual. The data were analyzed through SPSS, version 14, using Mann-Whitney test, Chi-square test, Wilcoxon and repeated  measurements.Results: The results showed that the mean of total self-esteem scores and the sub-scales (except for family self-esteem) in the experimental groups compared to that in the control groups, one and six weeks after the peer-led based approach intervention was significantly different [p<0.001]. Before the intervention, the mean for self-esteem in the experimental groups was 51.80±13.91 but in the first post-test and second post-test the mean increased to 73.72±12.94, and 69.48±12.63, respectively. Before the educational intervention, the frequency distribution of females’ self-esteem in the experimental and control groups did not differ significantly from each other (p=0.340). But during one and six weeks after the intervention, a significant increase was observed between the two groups (p<0.001).Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that peer education is an effective way to promote self-esteem in adolescents. Providing opportunities such as a peer-led approach can help adolescents to acquire practical ways to increase their self-esteem.Keywords: Self esteem,  Peer group, Adolescents, Education