Sexual and Reproductive Health Education: Contrasting Teachers’, Health Partners’ and Former Students’ Perspectives

Abstract

National guidelines recommend that Canadian sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education promote access to SRH services and effectively target SRH information to adolescents prior to their leaving secondary school. Within the context of rapidly changing health technologies (HPV vaccine, contraception innovations), SRH education can be an essential health promotion strategy targeting Canada's youth. SRH education in publicly funded Catholic and secular ("public") secondary schools in the National Capital Region, Canada was evaluated to determine whether it meets the standards of health promotion. SRH strategies were collected by semi-structured interviews with 44 SRH educators: 15 public school teachers, 15 Catholic school teachers and 14 referent health partners and 31 young adults. Interview transcripts were subjected to deductive content analysis using the Information, Motivation, Behavioural Skills (IMB) model. Student uptake of SRH classroom themes (reproductive anatomy, contraceptive/condom use and risk prevention) was fairly consistent with teacher self-report. Students were encouraged to abstain from sexual activity by both public and Catholic teachers. SRH skill-building activities included relationship scenarios and facilitated access to SRH services by teachers from both Catholic and public schools, however only public schools provided condom demonstrations. Students recommended a more sex-positive education as sex was presented as an inherently negative and risky activity. SRH education, framed by the IMB model and in the context of school-community health partnerships, is an effective tool for health promotion. Knowledge transfer of biomedical SRH information is effective; however improvements can be made in the promotion of SRH self-efficacy.