Abstract
Background: The sexual health of young people is an especially important issue for national health policies. Adolescents, in fact, are at elevated risk for adverse sexual and reproductive health outcomes relative to their habits, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), sexual behaviour and teenage pregnancy. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge about sexuality of students under the age of 18. Moreover, we aimed to explore the influence of sex education on sexual knowledge and behaviour. Methods: The participants were enrolled during a cultural exchange project in September 2019. After completing the questionnaire, all students took part in a sex education course performed by an urologist with expertise in sociology and psychology. The adolescents repeated the same survey in a web form in September 2020, one year after the course. Results: Analyzing the data, sex education lessons helped to improve students’ confidence in approaching all the issues of the questionnaire. Moreover, we observed a significant increase in the role of school as main source of information, while the role of the internet, media and family remained stable. Conclusions: This study encouraged the introduction of school-based sexual education policies, pointing to opportunities for structural early intervention programs.
Highlights
The sexual health of adolescents is an especially important issue for national health policies
Several authors reported that abstinence-only education (AOE) programs are ineffective in reducing risky sexual behaviour (Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine [SAHM], 2017)
Several studies demonstrated that an adequate education about human sexuality and sexual health provided by parents, physicians, teachers and other professionals was important to help adolescents make aware, safe and positive choices about responsible sexual activity and their sexual health [3]
Summary
The sexual health of adolescents is an especially important issue for national health policies. Several authors reported that abstinence-only education (AOE) programs are ineffective in reducing risky sexual behaviour (Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine [SAHM], 2017). Sexuality education is defined as teaching about human sexuality, including intimate relationships, human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexually transmitted infections, sexual activity, sexual orientation, gender identity, abstinence, contraception and reproductive rights and responsibilities [2]. Several studies demonstrated that an adequate education about human sexuality and sexual health provided by parents, physicians, teachers and other professionals was important to help adolescents make aware, safe and positive choices about responsible sexual activity and their sexual health [3]. Several studies demonstrated that an adequate education about human sexuality and sexual health provided by parents, physicians, teachers and other professionals was important to help adolescents make aware, safe and positive choices about responsible sexual activity and their sexual health [3]. 4.0/).
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