What happens when you organize college undergraduates to provide healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) to their peers in a structured service-learning class? This presentation will describe a community engagement strategy and pedagogical approach to prepare emerging professionals and strengthen romantic relationships by utilizing undergraduate peer educators to facilitate HMRE to other undergraduate students in their campus community.

Join Drs. McElwain and Finnegan as they discuss the process of training, planning, and implementing content from the evidence-based Love Notes curriculum that helped college peers see human development and family relations concepts “come to life,” open a “whole new world” of career opportunities, and develop key professional skills.

Objectives: Participants will be able to:

1. Understand the benefits of a peer education model for delivering HMRE through structured university service-learning courses.
2. Identify peer impact and practical gains of facilitating relationship education through a service-learning experience
3. Learn from peer educators’ reflections on their beliefs and attitudes towards relationship education and the peer education model.

Presenters: Alyssa McElwain, Ph.D., CFLE, University of Wyoming, and Vanessa Finnegan, Ph.D., CFLE, Auburn University.

Who should attend: HMRE and other federal grant program managers and facilitators, professors and college professionals, Extension agents, public and alternative school educators.

Resources:

• September 2023 Webinar Slide Deck
• Citation of the study: McElwain, A., & Finnegan, V. (2022). Emerging professionals practicing family science: Reflections of peer educators delivering relationship education. Family Relations. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12806