XN000022-1997-03-11 — Page 12

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Effectiveness of peer support affirmed

An Education Department-commissioned study has found that peer support and counselling among students are effective in helping students combat the problems of suicide and substance abuse in schools.

The study, carried out by the Department of Psychology of the University of Hong Kong, affirmed the effectiveness of the Student Assistance Programme, in which a group of student helpers are trained to assist and counsel fellow students who may be in need of assistance in the areas of substance abuse or suicide.

Interviews with 126 staff members and 227 students in the study affirmed the positive effects of the programme while 329 of these 353 interviewees (93 per cent) found the programme either 'successful' or 'very successful' in helping peers in schools.

It was noted that after implementation of the Student Assistance Programme, both teaching staff and students of the participating schools were more aware of the assistance from the programme and students were more inclined to talk to the peer helpers about their problems.

The study report recommended that the programme should be further developed to become a school-based programme and that effective programmes from individual pilot schools should be cited for reference of other schools.

In response to the Governor's Drug Summit in March 1995, the Education Department commissioned the HKU study at a cost of $1 million. The study, which commenced in March 1996 and covered Primary 4 to Primary 6 and Secondary 1 to Secondary 7 students, has now been completed.

The study consisted of two components. The first component was a broad- based survey involving 18 participating schools (nine primary and nine secondary) and five control schools (two primary and three secondary). The survey assessed students' at-risk behaviours related to substance abuse and suicide, students' degree of knowledge of the school support network and services, and students' coping skills.

The second component was the implementation of a Hong Kong Student Assistance Programme in the participating schools. A six-day training workshop for trainers was held in early July 1996. After the workshop, teams of the 18 participating schools developed their own student assistance programmes and trained 25 additional peer helpers.