Trauma informed sex education: Findings from an examination of EBPs with disconnected youth

Purpose.  The Connections Project is a multi-site study in Texas examining the efficacy of evidence based teen pregnancy prevention curricula (EBPs) with “disconnected youth” in foster care, juvenile detention, substance use treatment and homeless shelters.  An implementation evaluation was completed in the first year of the project.

Methods.  Individual interviews were conducted with agency staff and health educators (n=10) to understand the challenges, successes and youth responses to the curricula.  Interviews were transcribed verbatim and were coded using content analysis.

Results.  Staff in these settings tend to act as substitute parents for youth as they are the only adults youth see consistently. Findings suggest staff are uncomfortable discussing sexual health with youth and can bias youth’s participation in EBPs.  Additionally, youth in these settings react in ways that suggests that there are parts of the curriculum that are not applicable to them.  For instance, participants felt there were many youth who could not relate to portions of the EBPs that used language around risk and dangers, since many are suspected to have experienced sexual trauma.

Conclusions and Implications.  Emerging research suggests that approaches to sex education that focus solely on risk and negative aspects of adolescent sexuality may not meet the needs of youth who have experienced maltreatment.  Sex education and prevention curricula steeped in discourses of danger and risk, may actually alienate and shame youth who have experienced sexual abuse.