The effect of peer-to-peer education on health literacy, knowledge, and adherence to COVID-19 protocols in vulnerable adolescents

BACKGROUND: The study was done to examine the effectiveness of peer-to-peer education on increasing health literacy, knowledge s, and observance of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) health prevention protocols in vulnerable adolescents. METHOD: The study was a one-group intervention (before and after the intervention) that was performed on 1200 vulnerable adolescents living in varamin. The educational intervention was presented to adolescents in a face-to-face session. In the next step, the adolescents were taught the information received by three members of their families. Data were evaluated using a self-designed questionnaire before, and three months after the intervention. The paired t-test was used to compare scores of health literacy, compliance, and knowledge before and after the intervention at a 0.05 confidence level. The Multiple linear regression model was used to determine the predictive factors of observance of COVID-19 preventive behaviors. RESULTS: The most of adolescents were in the age group of 14 to 18 years (60%) and most of them were girls (61.5%). The most important source of information about COVID-19 disease was radio and television (59.6%). The results showed that the effectiveness of the intervention in increasing the adolescents’ health literacy, knowledge, and adherence to preventive behaviors were 40%, 30%, and 23%, respectively. The effectiveness of the intervention in increasing their families’ health literacy and adherence to the protocols were 11% and 20%, respectively (p = 0.001). DISCUSSION: Involving volunteer adolescents as health ambassadors and transmitting messages and methods of promoting personal protection against COVID-19 epidemics to family members had a significant effect on increasing the knowledge and adherence to the health procedures.