Sexual and Reproductive Health Education Interventions Conducted across the League of Arab States: A Regional Scoping Review

Adolescents’ knowledge on sexual ity and reproductive health is still limited, although there have been initiatives to provide sexual and reproductive health education as indicated by previous studies. This paper examines reproductive health and sexuality education for adolescents that has been conducted by government and non-government at the high school level. This paper is based on a research using mixed methods of quantitative methods that are supported by qualitative. Quantitative methods are surveys conducted to 918 students and 128 high school teachers and supported by focus group discussions and in-depth interviews in eight cities in Indonesia. Focus group discussions conducted to civil society organizations, teacher forums, and youth groups, while in-depth interviews conducted to local government, parents, school committees, and religious/community leaders. The results show that the reproductive and sexual health education does not match the reality of sexual behavior and sexual risk faced by teenagers because: (1) reproductive health and sexuality education that is given to the high school level is more focused on the biological aspects alone, (2) There is still a notion that sexuality is a taboo to be given at school, (3) the sexuality education tends to emphasize the dangers of premarital sex from the moral and religious point of view, (4) the sexuality education has not looked at the importance of aspects of gender relations and rights of adolescents in adolescent reproductive and sexual health. The construction of adolescent sexuality and the discourse on sexuality education contribute to the content and methods of sexual ity and reproductive health education for adolescents. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE

A Call for Comprehensive, Disability- and LGBTQ-Inclusive Sexual and Reproductive Health Education

IntroductionAs educators and health professionals, school nurses are in an optimal position to improve and advocate for adolescent reproductive and sexual health. This report outlines a protocol for a systematic...

Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health Education—Pursuing the Long Arc of Justice

Background: Sexual health interventions against sexual contraction and transmission of HIV in most developing countries such as Zambia, are often biased towards heterosexual sexual health interventions. This act tends to exclude minority sexual groups such as men who have sex with men whose existence could affect the transmission and spread of the virus. This paper therefore sought to present an analysis of the exclusion of sexual minorities in sexual health education interventions in Zambia. Methods: This paper employed a desk-based-research study and relied mainly on the review of secondary data in form of Ministry of Health (MOH) and National Aids Council (NAC) strategic documents and scholarly journals, articles and research papers relevant to the topic. Results: A knowledge gap on sexual health education exists amongst the sexual minority groups in the few studies assessed. This can be attributed to the fact that the Zambian society is believed to be heterosexual with most interventions adopting a heterosexual stance towards sexual health education. Limited thought to the sexual health concerns of men who have sex with men in Zambia can be attributed to criminal laws against acts of homosexuality, societal disdain for acts of a non-heterosexual nature, and religious teachings against acts of a non-heterosexual nature. Lack of consideration of sexual minorities and their sexual activities may have serious effects on their sexual health knowledge levels and sexual practices. Conclusion: Legal, societal and religious opposition must be addressed to enable open public discussion and debates on the design of more representative sexual health education.

South Carolina ranks 16th in the USA for highest rates of teenage pregnancy. The South Carolina Comprehensive Health Education Act (CHEA) does not require medically accurate, unbiased, culturally appropriate materials, and varies greatly in compliance and implementation. This study aimed to better understand parents’ perspectives in one county in South Carolina regarding reproductive and sexual health education. A total of 484 parents responded to a qualitative questionnaire, collectively representing 798 students. Researchers conducted a thematic analysis to organise the data. Main themes identified include comprehensive reproductive and sexual health education as a duty; dispelling the myth of abstinence-only education; and the value of comprehensive reproductive and sexual health education. Parents described teaching reproductive sexual health education in public schools as a ‘duty.’ Furthermore, parents rejected the idea that abstinence-only education is effective and believed reproductive and sexual health education should be taught without the influence of religion. Parents valued inclusive reproductive and sexual health education, covering a robust set of topics. Findings from the study provide evidence for the need to update current reproductive and sexual health education materials and legislation to meet parental demands and reduce youth sexual and reproductive health disparities.

“If Everyone Else Is Having This Talk With Their Doctor, Why Am I Not Having This Talk With Mine?”: The Experiences of Sexuality and Sexual Health Education of Young Women With Spina Bifida

BackgroundTo successfully develop and implement school-based sexual health interventions for adolescent girls, such as screening for Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Trichomonas vaginalis, it is important to understand parents’ and teachers’ attitudes towards sexual health education and acceptability of sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening interventions.MethodsIn this qualitative study, we approached parents and teachers from three high schools to participate in in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus-group discussions (FGDs). Parents and teachers were asked about their general knowledge of STIs and sexual health education. In addition, they were asked whether they would support utilizing outreach to schools to facilitate provision of sexual health education and screening for STIs in adolescent girls. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. An initial coding matrix was developed and refined throughout the coding process. Transcripts were coded by two researchers and analyzed using the content analysis approach.ResultsWe conducted 10 IDIs (5 parents and 5 teachers) and 4 FGDs (2 with parents, 2 with teachers, total of 26 participants). Most parents reported few or no discussions regarding STIs with their adolescent girls. Parents were more comfortable discussing consequences of sexual activity including loss of virginity and the potential for pregnancy. Parents tended to place responsibility for sexual health education with teachers. The teachers, in turn, provided basic sexual and reproductive health education including puberty, abstinence, and overview of STIs. Both parents and teachers found the idea of screening for STIs in adolescent girls to be acceptable, and were comfortable with research staff contacting girls through informational meetings at schools. Parents felt that adolescents’ STI screening results should be shared with their parents.ConclusionIn this African setting, parents and teachers provide limited sexual health education, with a focus on negative consequences including loss of virginity, pregnancy, and risk for STIs. Nonetheless, both parents and teachers were supportive of STI screening for adolescent girls, beginning with school-based informational meetings for the girls. Research and programs that aim to provide STI screening in this setting must offer treatment and address the issue of whether results will be disclosed to parents.

Sexuality is important in everyday lives; it contributes to a sense of self. Everyone has a right to access sexual experiences, form relationships, and obtain sexual health education. There is limited literature from the perspective of people with developmental disabilities about their sexuality and particularly how, or if, societal attitudes influence their sexuality and their opinions about sexual health education. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of young adults with developmental disabilities about their sexuality, their perceptions about how their sexuality was viewed by the community, and about the sexual education that is required and how it should be delivered. A qualitative interpretative phenomenological approach using a purposive sample was used to explore the perspectives of young adults, aged between 18 and 32 years old with developmental disabilities, to explore their perspectives on their sexuality, societal attitudes, and access to sexual health education. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using an interpretative phenomenological approach. Five main themes were developed from the data: (1) sexuality is multidimensional and important, (2) the challenges and fear of expressing sexuality, (3) societal views need to change, (4) close support enables sexuality, and (5) sexual health education needs to be individualised. Participants suggested that sexuality was important to them, and they had the same expectations about sexuality and relationships as many young adults. However, their autonomy and self-determination to set sexuality goals were constrained by societal attitudes. Supportive family and friends enabled opportunities, but they believed the knowledge and attitudes about disability, and about disability and sexuality, of community members, service providers, funders, and educators needed to change to enable increased opportunity to express their sexuality. Participants reported a need for individualised sexual health education provided by professionals with expertise.

Objective To understand the status and problems of sexual health education for college students in Karamay. Method s A QR code questionnaire was scanned and submitted by WeChat. The situation of sexual health education for college students was investigated by the informal discussion method. Result s Through the analysis of the results, we found that among the college students surveyed, 78.47% of the students did not think sex was a hard topic to talk about, among whom female students accounted for 75.2% and male students accounted for 81.2 %. In terms of their attitudes towards premarital sex, 29.7% of the respondents were against it, and 46.0% of them did not think it mattered, only 24.3% of the students supported premarital sex. At present, the sexual knowledge and the attitude to sexual contact of college students in Karamay were at the same level as college students in other parts of China. Among the college students surveyed, 74.9% of the students had received sex education in primary, middle, high schools, and university; 26.1% of the students had never received sex education. So, we believed that the main problems of current sexual health education were as follow: firstly, college students did not care (44.3%); secondly, schools did not pay attention to it (27.3%); thirdly, learning content was poor (28.4%). The survey also showed that only 34% of the students knew or knew well whether the induced abortion was harmful to the human body. Even, 3.9% of the medical students completely did not know the harm of induced abortion, 4.5% of nursing students, and 7.5% of non-medical students. The development of sexual health education was not optimistic. The survey found that colleges and universities in Karamay did not offer specialized courses on sexual health and sex education. Even the professional knowledge of the medical students was a little stronger than that of the non-medical students. The understanding on sexually transmitted diseases of the medical students was slightly better than that of the non-medical students, which was influenced by the majors they were studying. Conclusions At present, the long-term effective mechanism of sexual health education has not been formed in the higher education in Karamay, and there is a lack of sexual health education courses for college students. Through this investigation, it is suggested that the education authorities, the health and epidemic prevention departments, medical systems, and communities should work together, gradually standardize adolescent sexual health education with college students as the main part. Key words: College students; Sexual health; Education; Survey

This generic qualitative study explores the perspective of Malaysian teachers regarding the constraints of the current school-based sexual and reproductive health education in secondary schools of Klang-Valley Malaysia. For this study, in-depth interviews were conducted with twenty eight science teachers of government schools. The majority of participants named the teaching strategy and capacity of teachers, the lack of co-operation from the school and parents, limited resources in teaching and students themselves as some of the challenges. We concluded that if sexual health education is to be effective, it needs to be provided by people who have some specialized training. The teachers should be trained to teach sexual reproductive health education classes at the basic level, and in-service training for teachers already in the field should be intensified. Local adaptation to culture, language, religion, and so forth is often necessary.

Indigenous adolescents and young people in Panama are at high-risk for sexually transmitted infections, due in part to limited access to condoms and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education. There is a paucity of evidence on how to develop sexual and reproductive health education programmes that incorporate different sources of learning. We used Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory to understand two key sources of learning: noncaregivers (school or healthcare personnel) and caregivers (parents/grandparents/stepparents). Better understanding about sexual and reproductive health learning sources could provide a foundation for the development of targeted, culturally congruent interventions. This study included ethnographic observation in two Indigenous communities in Panama, followed by semi-structured interviews with young people and caregivers. Findings suggest non-caregiver sexual and reproductive health education was commonly provided by teachers, and increasingly through the Internet. Caregivers focused on topics of abstinence/delaying sexual debut, pregnancy, and STIs/HIV; condoms pregnancy, and STIs/HIV. Condoms and condom use were not mentioned. Traditional sexual and reproductive health teaching by same-gender caregivers took place through the rituals of mokän (girls at menarche) and grön (boys 13–14 years). To develop culturally congruent interventions, wesuggest programmes to improve sexual and reproductive health knowledge and access to condoms, which respect and build on social and traditional learning spaces.

Objective This study examined the views of secondary school students on sexuality and sexual health education in Hong Kong, China. Methods A total of 818 secondary school students (mean age = 15.3 years, SD = 1.6) participated in this study by completing a questionnaire consisted of items on sociodemographic characteristics, sexual attitudes, and other measuring scales. Results Students were slightly permissive in sexual attitudes and supported sexual health education. However, students who were male, highly liberal in sexual attitudes, and low in religiosity and spirituality were less supportive. Conclusions Educators may need to address these deterring factors of sexual health education before teaching specific sexual health topics.

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a fundamental health problem that is recognized globally. One of the reproductive and sexual health problems is the lack of sensitivity to reproductive health education for the future bridegroom. It can be the cause of the high Maternal and Child Mortality Rate (MMR and IMR). Sexual and reproductive health education for the future bridegroom is an effort to enhance knowledge with the aim of preventing dissatisfaction and failure in married life. Various challenges in providing sexual and reproductive health education (SRH) such as internal and external factors must be resolved immediately with the support of the relevant policymakers. The purpose of this research was to identify evidence related to sexual and reproductive health education for future bridegrooms. The method in this research was scoping review. The literature search in this study used 3 health journal databases, namely Ebsco, ProQuest, Willey online library, and 1 search engine; Google Scholar. Articles were selected using inclusion criteria, namely original research, in English and Indonesian, published in the last 5 years (2016–2021). The total search results were 2,743 articles, and ten articles were found that met the inclusion criteria in the author's review. The instruments used to assess the quality of articles were the Joana Brigs tool from Joana Brigs Institute (JBI) and the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. The results of the review found data related to the need for sexual and reproductive health education for future bridegrooms, barriers, and efforts/evidence-based made both nationally and internationally. From the review of the ten articles that the need for sexual and reproductive health education is not only due to medical problems, but also from the perspective of social problems, the provision of SHR services and government policies is considered a priority.

A history of colonisation and corresponding traumas has resulted in disparate rates of violence and sexual health inequities among many Native American populations. As a result, Native American adolescents and young adults specifically, experience higher rates of STIs, HIV and unintended pregnancy relative to their non-Hispanic White counterparts. To address these inequities, sexual health education programmes should reflect Native American cultural values and traditional teachings to align with community assets and protective factors. The objective of this study was to describe sexual and reproductive health professionals’ perspectives on how trauma collectively affects the sexual health of older adolescents and young adult Native American women between the ages of 15–25 years. We purposively sampled sexual and reproductive health professionals who worked with members of this priority population. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted, recorded, and transcribed. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. The themes identified in the interviews include the impact of trauma and colonisation on sexual health, strategies for combatting trauma, promoting sexual health, and supporting the development of culturally congruent sexual health education curricula. Findings point to the need for culturally relevant, trauma-informed sexual health education interventions to help promote sexual and reproductive health equity for Native American adolescent and young adult women.