Abstract
BackgroundA common risk behavior in adolescence is the early initiation of unprotected sex that exposes adolescents to an unplanned pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections. Schools are an ideal place to strengthen adolescents’ sexual knowledge and modify their behavior, guiding them to exercise responsible sexuality. The purpose of this article was to evaluate the knowledge of public secondary school teachers who received training in comprehensive education in sexuality (CES) and estimate the counseling’s effect on students’ sexual behavior.MethodsSeventy-five public school teachers were trained in participatory and innovative techniques for CES. The change in teacher knowledge (n = 75) was assessed before and after the training using t-tests, Wilcoxon ranks tests and a Generalized Estimate Equation model. The students’ sexual and reproductive behavior was evaluated in intervention (n = 650) and comparison schools (n = 555). We fit a logistic regression model using the students’ sexual debut as a dependent variable.ResultsTeachers increased their knowledge of sexuality after training from 5.3 to 6.1 (p < 0.01). 83.3% of students in the intervention school reported using a contraceptive method in their last sexual relation, while 58.3% did so in the comparison schools. The students in comparison schools were 4.7 (p < 0.01) times more likely to start sexual initiation than students in the intervention schools.ConclusionTraining in CES improved teachers’ knowledge about sexual and reproductive health. Students who received counseling from teachers who were trained in participatory and innovative techniques for CES used more contraceptive protection and delayed sexual debut.
Highlights
A common risk behavior in adolescence is the early initiation of unprotected sex that exposes adolescents to an unplanned pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections
The teachers came from 26 municipalities in the state. 36% (27) were women, the mean age was 49 ± 9.9 years and 63% (46) were between 40 and 59 years old. 66% of the teachers worked in general secondary schools and 62.7% (47) were Directors or Deputy Directors who worked as counselors in sex education in the schools (Table 1)
Teachers’ knowledge of adolescence and sexuality, adolescent pregnancy and responsible sexuality and contraceptive methods improved after their participation in the workshop, both in the unadjusted and in the adjusted analysis. (p < 0.007)
Summary
A common risk behavior in adolescence is the early initiation of unprotected sex that exposes adolescents to an unplanned pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections. Schools are an ideal place to strengthen adolescents’ sexual knowledge and modify their behavior, guiding them to exercise responsible sexuality. Mexico’s birth rate of 64.2 per thousand adolescents is much higher than the rest of the member countries [5, 8]. The sexual and reproductive health of the adolescent population is a national priority. To address this problem, the Mexican government launched the National Strategy for the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy (ENAPEA) in 2015 [9]. Morelos is a state located in the center of the country near Mexico City and it has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates (36.2 per 1000 adolescents) [10]
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