Challenges of community instructors teaching comprehensive sex education in churches...the good, the bad, and the ugly

In 2010, the fledging Office of Adolescent Health (within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) funded a comprehensive sexual health education program to be implemented in churches in areas with high levels of teenage pregnancy in Southern Nevada. The trailblazing church and community members who signed up to teach the evidenced based curriculum (Becoming A Responsible Teen) were well prepared for the task having been certified in the curriculum, participated in teach backs and continuing education workshops highlighting key facts related to working in faith communities and teaching HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancy prevention. The challenges of recruiting, training and retaining instructors who were deliberately drawn from the community being served to heighten program sustainability and community investment will be documented in this presentation. Additionally, the challenges of instructors teaching a “sexy” topic in faith settings have been chronicled by project partner Education For Quality Living and will be described during the presentation. Now in its third year of funding from this presentation will describe the achievements, challenges and lessons learned from the perspective of the faith community health instructors and the training partner for the Southern Nevada Teen Pregnancy Prevention Project.