Peer education has grown in popularity and
practice in recent years in the field of health
promotion. However, advocates of peer education
rarely make reference to theories in their
rationale for particular projects. In this paper
the authors review a selection of commonly
cited theories, and examine to what extent they
have value and relevance to peer education in
health promotion. Beginning from an identification
of 10 claims made for peer education, each
theory is examined in terms of the scope of the
theory and evidence to support it in practice.
The authors conclude that, whilst most theories
have something to offer towards an explanation
of why peer education might be effective, most
theories are limited in scope and there is little
empirical evidence in health promotion practice
to support them. Peer education would seem to
be a method in search of a theory rather than
the application of theory to practice.