Teaching Sexuality Education Research Articles

Identifying Effective Methods for Teaching Sex Education to Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Review

Sex education for individuals with intellectual disabilities is important. However, our knowledge about effective methods for teaching sex education to this population is limited. We report the results of a systematic review identifying methods for sex education programs aimed at individuals with intellectual disabilities. In all, 20 articles were included that met the criteria set in terms of topic—the effectiveness of sex education programs—and population of interest—individuals with intellectual disabilities. In these articles, methods for increasing knowledge and for improving skills and attitudes were reported. However, the studies revealed that generalization of skills to real-life situations was often not achieved. There are indications that the maintenance of knowledge and skills still needs extra attention. Moreover, detailed descriptions of the program materials, program goals, and methods used in the programs were often lacking in the reports. Although there is some evidence for methods that may improve knowledge, attitudes, and skills with regard to sex education aimed at individuals with intellectual disabilities, due to the lack of detailed descriptions provided it is unclear under which conditions these methods work. We therefore suggest that authors provide additional detail about methods in future publications or in online supplements.

The Cross-Cultural Validation to Measure the Needs and Practices of Educators Who Teach Sexuality Education to Learners with a Disability in South Africa

Literature shows that learners with disabilities lack access to sexuality education in Africa and are therefore at increased risk of sexual abuse and exploitation as well as exposure to HIV. Teachers in special schools struggle to provide sexuality education to learners with disabilities. However, the challenges and how they are shaped by the teachers’ knowledge, attitudes and practice in regards to the subject are little understood. This paper reports on the process of developing, culturally validating and piloting a questionnaire that assesses the teachers’ knowledge, attitude and teaching practices. The questionnaire validation used the cultural equivalence testing framework from Stevelink and van Brakel testing for conceptual, item, semantic, operational and measurement equivalence using expert advice, literature, a sensitivity questionnaire and focus group discussions. The validation process provided crucial pointers toward improving and culturally adjusting scales. This has developed a robust tool with the exception of the knowledge scales. In the further process the latter will be refined and adjusted. This tool helps to identify teachers’ challenges around sexuality education and has informed the development of a curriculum innovation and toolkit that supports teachers to effectively deliver sexuality education to learners with disabilities.

Sex education in the 21st century.

Controversies about the proper content of school-based sex education continue, but in some fundamental sense they have been matched by—perhaps even overtaken by—other pressing realities. For example, there are increasing demands that school resources be dedicated to teaching the basics of reading, writing, and math and to upgrading the attention given to science education. Many communities find that meeting these legitimate demands places substantial pressure on school hours and budgets, often at the expense of such areas as art and physical education as well as health education, which often includes sex education. Moreover, limited budgets can also decrease the amount of training made available to sex education teachers.

Parental Percetion of the Teaching of Sex Education to Adolescent in Secondary School in Cross River State, Nigeria

This study was an ex-post facto research, design to determine parental perception of the teaching of introducing sex education to adolescents in secondary schools in Cross River State, as the area of study. Two null hypotheses were formulated on the basis of the identified major independent variables of nature of parental perception and parental literacy status. A 15-item questionnaire was developed, validated and tested for reliability. It was then administered to 400 respondents (parents–200 male, 200 female) from 20 churches in the entire state (7 churches from central, 7 from south and 6 from north senatorial districts). The sample was selected by stratified cluster and simple random procedure. Data was analysed using the independent t-test. Results revealed that parental perception of the teaching of sex education to adolescents in secondary schools is significantly negative; no significant difference exists between literate and illiterate parents in their perception of the teaching of sex education to adolescents in secondary schools. It was concluded that parental perception of the teaching of sex education to adolescents in secondary schools is generally negative in Cross River State. Some recommendations were enhanced as the way forward. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hjsa.v6i0.10714 Himalayan Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol.6 2014: 134-145

Paediatricians should do more to address male adolescent sexual health.

Paediatricians should do more to address male adolescent sexual health.

Investigating Educators' Views of Sexuality, HIV and AIDS Education in Working with Students with Disabilities in South African Schools

The misconception that persons with disabilities are asexual and sexually inactive often relegates teaching sexuality education in special needs schools to a priority of low importance. The access, or lack thereof, to such information causes students lvith disabilities to be at an increased risk of HIV infection; therefore, providing them with sexuality education is imperative. The purpose of the present study was to examine the teachers' and childcare providers' views of teaching sexuality, HIV, and AIDS programs in special needs schools. A survey questionnaire was employed to collect the data. The results showed that among the four major study constructs, teaching practices had the highest mean scores (M = 4.2). A correlation matrix among the 10 study variables indicates the strongest positive associations for teaching practices with cure for HIV (r = .37, P < .01) and the seriousness of the AIDS problem (r = .35, P < .05) with programs related to HIV and AIDS. The study confirmed the teachers' high levels of knowledge regarding HIV and AIDS and that they were taking the teaching of sexuality education to students with disabilities seriously. The teachers, however, questioned who should be held responsible for teaching this sexuality education, which may have an impact on their attitudes and beliefs as well as their teaching practices of the topic.

Protect or Enable? Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices Regarding Provision of Sexuality Education to Learners with Disability in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Literature argues that people with disabilities have heightened risk of exposure to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV due to lack of HIV knowledge, access to health services, and increased risk of sexual abuse and poverty. People with disabilities lack access to sexuality education. Teachers should be at the forefront to address this; however there is little understanding of the knowledge, attitudes, practices and needs of teachers of learners with disabilities in regards to sexuality/HIV education in Africa. A pilot study was conducted in ten special schools (eight urban, two rural) representing four types of disabilities in South Africa. Data was collected from 99 teachers using scales investigating beliefs and practice in teaching sexuality education, perceived subjective norms, self-efficacy, and materials/professional preparation. Frequencies, means, standard deviations and Cronbach’s alphas were calculated for all scales. The data shows that overall teachers have positive attitudes towards teaching all elements of comprehensive sexuality education. However, they find it easier to discuss “soft topics” around relationships and personal skills (e.g., hygiene) than to talk about sexual behavior and functions. Teachers expressed confidence in their ability to teach sexuality education but indicated that their professional preparation and materials are not adequate to provide accessible sexuality education to their learners. The study highlights the need to develop appropriate materials and to build teachers’ capacity to deliver sexuality and HIV education to learners with disabilities.

Improving sexuality education: the development of teacher-preparation standards.

Teaching sexuality education to support young people's sexual development and overall sexual health is both needed and supported. Data continue to highlight the high rates of teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections, among young people in the United States as well as the overwhelming public support for sexuality education instruction. In support of the implementation of the National Sexuality Education Standards, the current effort focuses on better preparing teachers to deliver sexuality education. An expert panel was convened by the Future of Sex Education Initiative to develop teacher-preparation standards for sexuality education. Their task was to develop standards and indicators that addressed the unique elements intrinsic to sexuality education instruction. Seven standards and associated indicators were developed that address professional disposition, diversity and equity, content knowledge, legal and professional ethics, planning, implementation, and assessment. The National Teacher-Preparation Standards for Sexuality Education represent an unprecedented unified effort to enable prospective health education teachers to become competent in teaching methodology, theory, practice of pedagogy, content, and skills, specific to sexuality education. Higher education will play a key role in ensuring the success of these standards.

Identifying the important factors associated with teaching sex education to people with intellectual disability: A cross-sectional survey among paid care staff

Background Sex education programs have been developed with paid care staff as sex educators. However, no information is available about whether these programs are being delivered.Method The aim of this study was to investigate whether paid care staff working in an organisation specialised in the care of people with mild to moderate intellectual disability teach sex education or not. An online questionnaire was therefore constructed to assess the important factors associated with teaching sex education.Results Of the 163 staff members who completed the questionnaire, 39% provided sex education. Results show that it was mainly provided reactively. The main factor was the perceived social norm towards teaching sex education.Conclusions If we want paid care staff to teach sex education reactively, then we need to focus on changing the perceived social norm. However, if we want them to teach sex education proactively, a new needs assessment should be conducted in order to identify the important factors to motivate and enable them to provide sex education.

Silence, nostalgia, violence, poverty … : What does ‘culture’ mean for South African sexuality educators?

In in-depth interviews with 25 Life Orientation teachers in South Africa, we found that teachers spontaneously drew upon notions of culture to explain and justify people's sexual beliefs and behaviours and their own role as educators. Drawing upon a Bakhtinian understanding of discourse, we apply critical semantic analysis to explore how culture is deployed as a discursive strategy. Teachers draw upon particular understandings of culture available to them in their social contexts. Furthermore, the substitution of the word ‘culture’ for a series of other phenomena (silence, violence and poverty) affords these phenomena a certain authority that they would otherwise not wield. We argue, first, that systems teacher education and training needs to (re)define culture as dynamic, interactive and responding to, but not determined by, socio-historical realities. Beyond this, teachers need to learn how to critically engage with cultural practices and perceptions and to be provided with some basic tools to do so, including more sophisticated understandings of cultural and training in dialogic methodologies. Teaching sexuality education in multicultural societies such as South Africa will require meaningful engagement in intercultural dialogues that may need to include voices that have traditionally been excluded from school spaces.

Teachers learning about their sexual identities through collaborative storytelling: Mandla and Sihle's story

abstractI draw on a study in which I engaged myself and a group of my fellow Life Orientation teachers in collaborative self-study to review who we were as sexual beings, how we understood sexuality and how this self-knowledge might affect our teaching of sexuality education. I begin by elucidating my theoretical perspectives. I go on to describe how the participants and I employed personal history storytelling to explore our development, understandings and positioning as sexual beings. To illustrate my discussion, I share a story related by two of the participants. In Mandla and Sihle's story we meet two women teachers who identify themselves as lesbians and who also want to be identified as men. I explain how Mandla and Sihle's story illustrated for us how family, religious and cultural influences and gender norms play a significant role in how we view ourselves as sexual beings. To conclude, I reflect on how through dialogue with trusted friends, teachers can gain new understandings of and new perspectives on what their lived experiences mean for them, as well as what they can learn from them.

Preferences Regarding School Sexuality Education Among Elementary Schoolchildren's Parents

Background A comprehensive review of the literature failed to find any studies to assess elementary school parents' preferred philosophical approach to teaching sexuality education and sexuality education topics discussed by parents. All previous research reported parent data for grades K-12 or grades 9-12 only. Methods A random sample of 2400 parents of children ages 6 to 11 across 3 counties of a Midwestern state were surveyed using a 3-wave mailing, which resulted in a final response rate of 43% from eligible parents. Results When asked to identify which of 3 sexuality education topics should be taught at specific grade levels, a plurality (36%) thought that the reproductive system should be taught in grades 3-5. Most parents (51%) supported teaching abstinence and refusal skills in grades 6-8 and supported teaching birth control and condom use (55%) in the middle school grades or earlier. Discussion Multiple factors come into play when schools decide what sexuality education topics to include in the curriculum, including politics, moral philosophy of adults, resources, and research evidence. The results of this study support comprehensive sexuality education. Translation to Health Education Practice Health education teachers should advocate for quality sexuality education in the middle school grades or earlier.

English

Life Orientation teachers play a critical role in the teaching and learning of sexuality education in South African schools. Using an experiential participatory approach with 125 teachers in the Motheo district, Free State, I explored three questions: What messages did the teachers learn about sex and sexuality? How do these messages inform the teachers’ values? How do the teachers teach sexuality education? Despite its own problems and limitations, the participatory approach exploits and reinforces the life-space model proposed by Kurt Lewin. I will argue that past and future events have an impact on teachers’ present behaviour and how they teach. I conclude with a framework for the teaching of sexuality education using participatory methods, which can help support teachers interested in working with such an approach. Keywords : Life Orientation teachers, life-space model, participatory approach, sexuality education

Sexuality education in South Africa: Whose values are we teaching?

This article presents a critical discussion on how teachers teach sexuality education in South African schools. Using data collected from classroom observations and in-depth interviews with Life Orientation teachers, it focuses on how values and comfort play out in the teaching of sexuality education. I argue that teachers teach sexuality while inserting their values in ways that undermine the key points of a comprehensive sexuality education curriculum. Also posited is the distinction between comfort and values and the overlap of each in relation to whether and how different aspects of sexuality education are taught. The article concludes this with a brief description of the future directions that teacher education and classroom practices in sexuality education might take.

Students teach sex education: introducing alternative conceptions of sexuality

In this paper, we describe an exercise that challenges hetero-normative and sexist notions of sexuality, allowing students to envision alternative models. Research shows how active learning eases student anxiety over challenging or threatening material. After reading Jessica Fields' Risky Lessons and Waskul, Vannini, and Weisen's article entitled ‘Women and Their Clitoris’, students designed a sex education curriculum that challenges conventional methods. Beyond critiquing existing sex education models, this exercise provides a space for students to reflect on their own sex education experiences, develop their own ideas for teaching about sex and become comfortable discussing sex and sexuality with their peers. All but one of the students reported finding the activity enjoyable or interesting. More than half of students reported change in their views about sex and sex education as a result of the activity.

Sex Education Representations in Spanish Combined Biology and Geology Textbooks

Sex education is principally dealt with as part of the combined subject of Biology and Geology in the Spanish school curriculum. Teachers of this subject are not specifically trained to teach sex education, and thus the contents of their assigned textbooks are the main source of information available to them in this field. The main goal of this study was to determine what information Biology and Geology textbooks provide with regard to sex education and the vision of sexuality they give, but above all to reveal which perspectives of sex education they legitimise and which they silence. We analysed the textbooks in question by interpreting both visual and text representations, as a means of enabling us to investigate the nature of the discourse on sex education. With this aim, we have used a qualitative methodology, based on the content analysis. The main analytical tool was an in-house grid constructed to allow us to analyse the visual and textual representations. Our analysis of the combined Biology and Geology textbooks for Secondary Year 3 revealed that there is a tendency to reproduce models of sex education that take place within a framework of the more traditional discourses. Besides, the results suggested that the most of the sample chosen for this study makes a superficial, incomplete, incorrect or biased approach to sex education.

Consequences of a recent campaign of criticism against school sex education in Japan

This paper aims to provide insights into recent events concerning school sex education in Japan. A campaign of criticism against school sex education emerged in 2002 at both national and regional levels, and included a court case in Tokyo. Despite leaving a depressing atmosphere regarding sex education teaching practices, this campaign also functioned to generate new research, which not only brought together the first nationwide data on school sex education, but also revealed hitherto unknown facts. The evidence uncovered indicated that the campaign against school sex education was not supported by wider society, and restrained routine reactions by the central government served as a buffer against criticism to suspend it.

Positioning sex educators: a critical ethnography of a professional development workshop

In this ethnographic research, I offer an analysis of a state-sponsored professional development workshop for sex educators. Positioning theory is used to understand how the lived space of the workshop – including texts, talk and silence – positions sex education teachers as professionals and practitioners with certain (limited) speaking rights and resources.

The provision of sexual health education in Australia: primary school teachers' perspectives in rural Victoria

In Australian schools, one significant component of whole-school learning in sexuality education is to provide students with developmentally appropriate curriculum and learning opportunities, with the intention of influencing positive health and well-being. In the situation where the usual classroom teacher is under-prepared or unwilling to teach sexuality education to their students, the use of external providers who are experts in puberty and sexual health is crucial. While the provider is a key influential factor in any sexual health programme, reliance on external providers for the provision of sexuality education in regional Australian cities is not well documented. This mixed-method study aims to address this gap in the literature with a specific focus on Ballarat, where the provision of sexuality education, particularly in primary schools, is heavily reliant on several external providers. Participant schools highlight the need for further positive synergies between the classroom teachers, external agencies and the accessibility of a rigorous curriculum to sustain the delivery of an effective programme to young people in schools.

The Role of Parents in the Prevention of Hiv/Aids among Secondary School Students in Ijebuode Ogun State, Nigeria

The study was an assessment of the role of parents in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS among adolescents in Nigeria. The study was conducted among students of selected secondary schools in Ijebu-Ode Nigeria. Two Hundred and Thirty (230) students were randomly selected as sample for the study. The instrument consisted of a set of questionnaire covering the areas of investigation. The data collected were analysed with simple percentage and chi-square statistical tool. The results showed that parents’ role in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS among students included teaching of sex education and the dangers of sexually - transmitted diseases especially HIV/AIDS to students; discouraging them from having multiple sexual partners and encouraging them to visit counselling centres. It was observed that activities of parents had a significant influence on the practice of precautionary measures among the respondents. The study concluded that parents are indispensable in the prevention of HIV/AIDS among secondary school students and that effective health education is the antidote for the prevention and spread of the pandemic disease. Key words: HIV/AIDS; Adolescents; Parents’ role