Dhand Amar
Department of Educational Studies, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Soc Sci Med. 2006 Nov;63(10):2674-85. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.06.026. Epub 2006 Aug 14.
Peer-based outreach is a popular strategy in which former or current drug addicts are employed as peer educators to contact and educate out-of-treatment addicts. This study examines the interaction patterns that occur during outreach with particular regard to the roles that peer educators perform. Using ethnographic methods, it reports findings from a group of 'peer educators' and 'clients' from Yamuna Bazaar, New Delhi. In this context, peer educators assumed three roles that were co-constructed with clients: 'counsellor', 'doctor', and 'role model'. Analysis of these role-plays revealed three significant patterns. First, the performances involved a hierarchical structuring with the peer educator in an authority position in nearly all interactions. Second, the role-plays were fluid and evolving with peer educators often transitioning across roles during the same interaction. Lastly, role performances appeared to have an underlying role replication mechanism in which roles were learned by first playing the subordinate role (e.g. 'patient') and then performing the dominant role (e.g. 'doctor') with another peer (e.g. new 'patient'). These findings provide insight into issues of empowerment, peer relationship dynamics, and social diffusion processes among drug-using communities, and peer-based situations more generally.
同伴外展是一种流行的策略，即雇用曾经或现在的吸毒者作为同伴教育者，与未接受治疗的吸毒者进行接触并开展教育工作。本研究考察了外展过程中出现的互动模式，特别关注同伴教育者所扮演的角色。通过人种志方法，报告了来自新德里亚穆纳集市的一组“同伴教育者”和“服务对象”的研究结果。在这种背景下，同伴教育者承担了与服务对象共同构建的三种角色：“顾问”、“医生”和“榜样”。对这些角色扮演的分析揭示了三种显著模式。首先，表演涉及一种等级结构，在几乎所有互动中同伴教育者都处于权威地位。其次，角色扮演是灵活多变且不断演变的，同伴教育者在同一互动过程中常常会转换角色。最后，角色表演似乎有一种潜在的角色复制机制，即先通过扮演从属角色（如“患者”）来学习角色，然后与另一个同伴（如新的“患者”）一起扮演主导角色（如“医生”）。这些发现为吸毒群体以及更普遍的同伴情境中的赋权问题、同伴关系动态和社会传播过程提供了见解。
