Sexuality Course Research Articles

Beyond “No Means No”

As part of a larger multimethod evaluation, this study examined the effects of a uniquely intensive rape education program. Participants included 74 undergraduates (53 women and 21 men) enrolled in Campus Acquaintance Rape Education (CARE), a semester-long university course designed to train peer facilitators to conduct rape education workshops. Ninety-six students (58 women and 38 men) enrolled in a general human sexuality course constituted a specialized comparison group. First, quantitative analysis of pre- and postcourse responses suggested that comprehensive attitude change occurred for students in CARE but not for those in the human sexuality course. Next, qualitative analyses explored the differences between pre- and postcourse responses to videotaped scenarios involving (hetero)sexual conflict. Responses suggested that, as a result of participating in CARE, both women and men become more willing and able to directly express themselves and assert their needs in ways that facilitated increased sexual communication. Finally, follow-up investigation conducted 2 years after course participation revealed that CARE students were less accepting of cultural rape myths than those in human sexuality.

How to talk about sex and do it well: a course for medical students

SUMMARY Sexual health consultations require good general communication skills and an ability to discuss issues such as sexual orientation and sexual practices sensitively and without embarrassment. Whereas the former are usually taught at medical school the latter are not. This paper describes the development and evaluation of a sexual health communication skills course for fifth-year medical students. It documents students' limited experience of discussing sexual health issues with patients and the significant decrease in their feelings of discomfort about doing so after a single two-hour training session. Some 97% of students felt that the course was relevant to clinical practice and all found it enjoyable. On the basis of this information the authors recommend that other medical schools run similar courses.

Coming down hard on sexually transmitted disease

At Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, NJ, all medical students complete an intensive one week course in human sexuality. If students miss any part of the required program, they are asked to write a paper on a topic related to sexuality. The following paper was submitted by a student who had completed a six week rotation at a sexually transmitted disease clinic located in an urban inner-city public clinic. Her brief report is offered here as an illustration of the value and unexpected surprises of on-site learning and because it provides a fresh, poignant glimpse of the individual(s) behind the symptoms. It reinforces the importance of having students see patients early in their medical career in order to challenge preconceptions and develop respect for the diversity of sexual lifestyles.

Controversies in Sexuality Courses at Colleges and Universities in the 1990s

Summary Sexuality educators have always had to face issues not typically encountered by those teaching other subjects. Over the past 25 years, the general social climate at colleges and universities has been supportive of sexuality education and has had a role in shaping sexuality courses. However, contemporary higher education and the sociopolitical climate of North America now present major challenges to sexuality education, greatly complicating the role of the sexuality educator. Among the many changes in climate, the single most significant difference may be a shift away from an emphasis on providing a personally enriching experience to an emphasis on providing a personally safe environment for all students. The implications of this are briefly discussed and illustrated.

Developing Objectives for an Undergraduate Human Sexuality Course

Summary The process of developing comprehensive course objectives for an undergraduate course in human sexuality is summarized. The contextual nature of learning, the integrity and coherence of course content” and the role of the educator are discussed. Examples of course content, interactive exercises, communication techniques, and other pedagogical procedures are integrated into the discussion of the rationale for each objective.

RCA sexual health course too ‘explicit’

RCA sexual health course too ‘explicit’

Using Writing to Develop and Assess Critical Thinking

Written work has several important advantages over oral discussion in the development and assessment of students' critical-thinking skills. This article describes a set of short writing assignments that tap eight essential aspects of critical and creative thought. Examples illustrate how the assignments can be tied to topics in general psychology and human sexuality courses.

Long-term follow-up of an alternative medical curriculum.

The Alternative Curriculum (AC), an elective program at the University of Virginia School of Medicine that enrolled a total of 48 students in 1973 and 1974, was one of many demonstration and pilot programs conducted during the 1970s. Its principal features were (1) a three-year time span; (2) early, prolonged, and intensive instruction in clinical skills; (3) intensive consideration of behavioral, social, economic, ethical, and legal aspects of medicine in a patient-centered curriculum; (4) an extensive course in sexuality; (5) an independent study format for two preclinical courses; (6) instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation; and (7) participation in the activities of the local rescue squad. In view of continuing questions about the structure and content of medical school curricula, it seemed worthwhile to try to determine what effects the program might have had on the participants during medical school and in their subsequent careers. In 1991, data on the AC participants were collected, largely by means of a survey but also by examination of the participants' medical school records and determination of their current professional status. Of the 48 participants, 44 were available for the survey, and 37 returned completed questionnaires. The great majority of the respondents had positive opinions about the program's three-year time span, morale during the program, and beneficial effects of the program's special content during their clerkships, postgraduate training programs, and subsequent careers. They thought they had had enough time to make informed specialty choices and did not think that their participation in the AC had been a handicap in getting the internships they wanted. Fewer than half of the students thought that the AC had influenced their career choices, and only 26% were currently in primary care specialties. The AC was successful in improving students' morale during the preclinical segment, preparing them for clerkships, and increasing their sensitivity to the patient as a whole. That the program was not effective in inducing students to enter primary care specialties supports the view that curriculum content is not a major factor in students' choices of specialty.

College Sexuality Education Promotes Future Discussions About Sexuality Between Former Students and Their Children

The study examined whether completion of a college human sexuality course would have long-term effects on students' willingness to discuss sexuality with their children. Fifty-two former students with children aged 5 years or older were surveyed 2½ to 3 years after completion of the course, and their responses were compared with those of a control group of 50 parents surveyed on the first day of the course. Only 10 of the 102 subjects indicated that they had ever had a single meaningful discussion about sex with their parents while growing up. While only 18% of the parents who had not yet had sexuality education had begun discussions with their own children, 86.5% of the sexuality-educated parents had done so (p < .001). Of 34 sexuality-educated parents with children aged 12 years or older, three-fourths or more had discussed menstruation, sexual intercourse and reproduction, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases, homosexuality, and sexual abuse. Masturbation was the only surveyed subject that had ...

Effects of a Human Sexuality Course on Attitudes Toward Rape and Violence

Researchers have indicated that false beliefs about rape, known as rape myths, are widely accepted and provide cultural support for the occurrence of rape. We examined changes in college students' acceptance of rape myths and attitudes concerning interpersonal violence resulting from exposure to a course in human sexuality. Subjects were 97 college students enrolled in a human sexuality course and 48 college students who served in a control condition. All subjects completed the Rape Myth Acceptance Scale and the Interpersonal Violence Scale at the beginning and end of the course. Multivariate analysis of covariance revealed a significant posttest difference between groups in the acceptance of rape myths. Students exposed to the human sexuality course were significantly less accepting of rape myths. No difference between groups emerged on the Interpersonal Violence Scale and no gender differences were found. Results are discussed with respect to statistical versus practical significance, and implications f...

Effects of a University Subject on Attitudes Toward Human Sexuality

Students enrolled in a tertiary human sexuality course completed an Attitudes towards Sexuality Inventory prior to and on completion of the course. Changes in attitudes were found on all or most of the subscales for both experimental groups, and on one subscale for the control group. In discussing the findings, attention is paid to differences between experimental and control groups, to changes in attitudes toward some topics and not others, and to the effects of age and gender.

Sexual Jeopardy: An activity for human sexuality courses

A fact-based activity is described for instructors of undergraduate human sexuality courses.Sexual Jeopardy: The Game—Not the Lifestyle is an entertaining, low-threat, easy game to implement in sexuality courses. Student interest and involvement in the activity is described. Directions for constructing a Jeopardy board as well as a sample list of category items are included.

Commentary: Sexual Orientation Issues in a Human Sexuality Course

Commentary: Sexual Orientation Issues in a Human Sexuality Course

Individual changes in sexual attitudes and behavior within college‐level human sexuality courses

A sample of 172 university students enrolled in three human sexuality courses was utilized to explore attitudinal and behavioral changes in individual students, rather than for the class as a whole. Students responded to a questionnaire on the first and last day of the course. ANOVAS indicated that sexual attitudes became more permissive during the period of the course and that there were no significant changes in behavior for the students as a group, a finding consistent with previous research. Attitude and behavior change scores were computed for each student, and multiple regressions were employed to test the relative association with a series of predictor variables. As predicted, attitude changes were associated with membership in social groups with restrictive sexual norms, personally restrictive sexual attitudes, and low prior sexual experience. Behavior changes were more complex with differing sets of variables explaining change in conventional and unconventional sexual behaviors. The report closes...

What Makes a Difference? Various Teaching Strategies to Reduce Homophobia in University Students

This study sought to determine how effective lectures, discussion, small group problem-solving, explicit films, and a gay-lesbian panel might be in reducing homophobia. At five selected times during a human sexuality course, three instruments were administered measuring attitudes toward gays and lesbians, same-sex sexual and affectional behavior, and the self-esteem of student respondents. No one teaching strategy emerged as superior to any other but, rather, all yielded decreased scores on homophobia and increased scores on self-esteem over the course.

Issues of Gender in Promoting Tolerance for Homosexuality

Although a recent review suggests that students' attitudes toward homosexuality change as a result of taking a human sexuality course, research in this area has not adequately addressed the issues of gender of target and gender of respondent. Attitude measures rarely distinguish between lesbians and gay men; respondents are expected to hold more negative attitudes toward homosexuals of their own sex; and women are expected to be more readily influenced in some situations. This study shows that women and men did not differ significantly in their attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, but attitudes toward lesbians were more easily changed than attitudes toward gay men regardless of the gender of the respondent.

Marital counselling: Teaching an eclectic approach

Abstract Limited opportunities for training combined with misperceptions about the nature of marital counselling lead to many professionals conducting consultations with couples without training. Where training exists, generally a specific ‘pure’ approach, or a definite brand of eclecticism is taught. The Sheffield Marital and Sexual Difficulties Clinic training course currently aims to give trainees the building blocks for evolving their own brand of eclecticism, or the opportunity to follow a particular approach. Psychodynamic, behavioural and systems theories are highlighted, and the various ways to which these (and other theories) can be used together are examined.

Education for Sexual Health Care

I have described the content of a sexuality course in a college of nursing and its professional application for 78 female and male nursing students. Responses to open-ended questions indicated that the course helped the students better deal with the sexual concerns of their patients and clients. As one participant said, "This class has led me to believe in sexual health care by nurses. I would have been content to leave it to the doctors or social workers who I thought were taking care of it. However, I was not aware of how little attention was given to the patients' sexual concerns by any health professional until I started looking for it. I now believe that nurses, more than anyone, can help bring about positive changes in these areas." Another student said, "I think more resources for sexuality teaching should be available for nurses. I have cared for many patients who could have used this type of intervention, but I was not prepared to give it." Given the AIDS epidemic, it is vital that nurses be prepared to deal with the sensitive aspects of sexuality in AIDS prevention, with people with AIDS, and with their significant others and caregivers. Of all health care professionals, nurses are in a unique position to help such patients and clients. A sexuality course can help nurses explore their own values and feelings as well as learn the effects of illness on patients' sexuality. Patients, their families, and nurses will all benefit.

A Course in Facilitating Human Sexuality Discussion Groups

A desire to personalize a large undergraduate lecture course in human relationships and sexuality led the author to develop a second course, Facilitating Human Sexuality Discussion Groups. Forty students each semester facilitate groups for some 400 students enrolled in the sexuality course. This article describes the group facilitator course, and was designed to be of special interest to college and university instructors.

Teaching Human Sexuality Using Guided Design

A psychology course in human sexuality has been taught for several years at two primarily liberal arts universities using a structured small-group format originally developed for teaching engineeri...