In the target minority inner city school district, teen pregnancy and teen sexually transmitted disease rates continue to exceed the rest of the county and state. Parents and teachers are reporting signs of sexual behavior in younger students, and there have been recent reports of pregnancy and rape in the 4th/5th grade. Standard sex education that promotes condom use, if you can't say no, sends mixed messages to children. Therefore several community organizations received state support to deliver the 10-week "Sex Can Wait" school-based program, with an additional 6-week parental component to prepare fifth graders to remain abstinent until they are adults. The curriculum and the assessment instruments, originally designed for older children, were revised and pilot-tested. Using a quasi-experimental evaluation research design, the program was implemented in three grade schools (N=90). A fourth school serves as the control (N=30). Following the collection of consent forms from the children and their parents, the pretest was completed. Instruction began February 14, 2000. The Health Educator is delivering all 10 of the children's lessons in a regular classroom during school time. Senior student nurses assist specific students with the classroom exercises. Beginning week 5, the students will deliver group education to the children's parents. The investigators hypothesize that the children and parents in the experimental groups will have greater knowledge about body changes and more positive attitudes toward abstinence and the parents, who have professional student assistance, will report increased confidence in their ability to provide guidance for their children.
Learning Objectives: Construct a grade school-based abstinence program with a strong parent component. Describe the role of health professional students in a school based health education program. Describe rigorous evaluation research methods applicable to school health education
Keywords: School-Based Programs, Sexual Risk Behavior
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.