Abstract
This article analyzes health mediation among equals as an educational strategy against risk behaviors in young people from both the educational and associative systems in Seville (Spain), based on qualitative research, with the aim of assessing and comparing its impact in those areas. To this end, interviews with 49 professionals and 427 adolescents were conducted in discussion groups. Results acknowledge mediation as individual or group intervention accepted by young people as advice and information on health issues and conflict resolution, but also as a method for data collection in order to obtain a community health diagnosis. The educational system implements this strategy, but in associations it seems to work better, particularly in the psycho-emotional and sexual spheres. Unfortunately, intervention programs are usually discontinuous due to lack of resources and territorial variability. And this is why mediators’ support is highly valued by the target users, with preference for a male figure in the case of boys, and larger predisposition towards a female mediator in girls, except in cases where this agent has a special social relevance.
Highlights
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines adolescence—ages 10–19—as “the first stage of youth characterized by the maturation of human beings in their physical, sexual, psychological, and social dimensions” [1,2]
This favors any determination and positioning, as Health mediation (HM) is an opportunity around the age of majority, when young people yearn to be visible according to the Selman Model about the development of social conscience, in order to join the community by achieving a greater role in it [5]
Social mediation focuses on conflict resolution and is part of health mediation because it contributes to the psychological wellbeing of people
Summary
Received: 20 November 2020The World Health Organization (WHO) defines adolescence—ages 10–19—as “the first stage of youth characterized by the maturation of human beings in their physical, sexual, psychological, and social dimensions” [1,2]. Health mediation (HM) is a health asset in “peer-education” strategies, optimized among equals when sharing any common characteristic: gender, age, or environment [5,6] It is the training and support of some people by others of the same group or social rank, with special effectiveness with regard to the positive development model and the assets that promote it [7]. This strategy is carried out in the context of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, in order to enhance the personal resources of the population [8]. It is the structured process of a group of agents that actively tries to inform, train, and support a similar population group on specific topics on which they have been previously trained [9,10,11]
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