Peer-Mediated Interventions: a Practical Guide to Utilizing Students as Change Agents

• Published in: Contemporary school psychology Vol. 22; no. 3; pp. 213 - 219
• Main Authors: Collins, Tai A., Hawkins, Renee O., Flowers, Emily M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer New York 01-09-2018; Springer
• Subjects: Behavior Change; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Change Agents; Child and School Psychology; Educational Psychology; Interpersonal Competence; Intervention; Peer Mediation; Program Effectiveness; Program Implementation; Psychology; Student Behavior; Teaching Methods; Tools for Practice; Troubleshooting; Intervention troubleshooting; Peer-mediated interventions; Implementation
• ISSN: 2159-2020; 2161-1505
• DOI: 10.1007/s40688-017-0120-7

Student interventionists have been utilized as change agents in a variety of contexts to improve the academic, social, and communicative behaviors of target students. A strong literature base supports the use of peers in academic interventions such as peer tutoring, as well as in behavioral interventions such as peer-mediated Check-In/Check-Out, peer modeling, and social skill groups with peer interventionists. Prior to implementation, peer tutoring, modeling, and management interventions may require a significant amount of time and/or resources on the part of school staff to train student interventionists and make a plan to monitor intervention effectiveness. As such, the current paper discusses implementation issues surrounding peer-mediated interventions and provides recommendations for deciding whether a peer-mediated intervention is appropriate, selecting and training target students, and monitoring and troubleshooting intervention effectiveness.