Pedagogy and content in sexuality education courses in US colleges and universities

Oswalt, Sara B.; Wagner, Laurie; Eastman-Mueller, Heather; Nevers, J

doi:10.1080/14681811.2014.991958

Cited by 20 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Faculty and college health professionals are able to enhance students' STI knowledge through coursework, health education programming and services on campus. Sexuality education at college level has been found to take place in academic and programmatic settings at some institutions; these opportunities for learning could be made more widespread (Nevers and Eastman-Mueller, 2012;Oswalt et al, 2015). Furthermore, the role of health care providers should not go unheeded.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A content analysis of college students’ gaps in knowledge about sexually transmitted infections

Lederer

Sheena

2020

Health Education Journal

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Objective: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) disproportionately affect young people and can result in severe health consequences. Accurate knowledge about STIs can play an important role in STI prevention. Prior quantitative research has found that college students’ knowledge about STIs is insufficient. However, there is a dearth of information regarding their specific STI knowledge deficiencies. This study sought to fill this gap by using a qualitative approach to elucidate gaps in students’ STI knowledge. Design: Qualitative content analysis of responses to an open-ended online survey question. Setting: A large public Midwestern university in the USA. Method: Students ( N = 289) watched a web-based STI health education programme covering basic information about Chlamydia, gonorrhoea, human papillomavirus (HPV), herpes and syphilis as a course requirement. Afterwards they answered an open-ended question about what information, if any, was new to them. Themes and sub-themes were identified, exemplar quotes were selected for illustrative purposes, and frequencies were calculated. Results: Ten overarching themes were identified about what students learned: everything/a lot (19.7%), prevention (16.6%), treatment/cures (15.6%), prevalence/statistics (14.9%), nothing/not much (14.2%), symptomatology (12.8%), everything about a specific STI (9.7%), health consequences (6.6%), transmission (5.5%) and testing (2.4%). Participants reported learning about HPV most frequently compared to other STIs. Conclusion: Findings demonstrate critical gaps in college students’ STI knowledge and provide a deeper understanding of specific knowledge deficiencies. Study findings highlight important sexual health content that should be integrated into health education initiatives in academic, community and other settings, and provides recommendations on how to do so.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A content analysis of college students’ gaps in knowledge about sexually transmitted infections

Lederer

Sheena

2020

Health Education Journal

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“…Further, due to programmatic restrictions, school-based programs are unlikely to include information on condom use, demonstrate how to correctly use condoms, provide condoms, or all three (Lindberg et al, 2016). Young adults who never participated in a school-based sexual and reproductive health program, or who were dissatisfied with prior school-based programs, may seek out human sexuality courses in college (King et al, 2019;Rye et al, 2014), which are likely to provide comprehensive contraceptive education (Oswalt et al, 2015). However, such classes are only a viable option for college students.…”

Section: Sources Of Condom Use Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Adolescents and Young Adults Learn About Condoms from Healthcare Providers? Findings from a US Probability Sample

Beckmeyer

Patterson

et al. 2021

Sex Res Soc Policy

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Introduction: Using data from the 2018 National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior, we determined the prevalence and content of adolescents' and young adults' communication with healthcare providers about condom use.Methods: Adolescents (14-17 years-old; n = 283) and young adults (18-24 years-old, n = 225), who discussed sexual health with a healthcare provider in the past-year, reported if they had discussed condom use with a healthcare provider and among those who did, they also reported why healthcare providers recommended condoms, if they demonstrated correct condom use, and/or provided condoms. Data collection occurred in February and March 2018.Results: Most adolescents (71.0%) and young adults (66.7%) who discussed sexual health with a healthcare provider, reported discussing condom use. Condoms were most often recommended for both pregnancy and STD prevention. Fewer adolescents and young adults were shown how to use condoms (11.4% of adolescents; 5.7% of young adults) or provided condoms (14.9% of adolescents; 14.7% of young adults). Only 3.2% of adolescents and 1.3% of young adults had healthcare providers who discussed, demonstrated, and provided condoms.Conclusions: Sexual health conversations with healthcare providers are likely to include condoms. But few adolescents and young adults were shown how to use condoms or provide condoms.Policy Implications: Providing healthcare providers with resources and trainings about how to talk about condoms with patients may lead to more adolescents and young adults learning medically accurate information about condoms. Healthcare offices and clinics could also provide condom use resources outside of provider-patient interactions.

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“…Over half of private institutions offer courses. In addition to covering anatomy, sexually transmitted infections and contraception, the comprehensive courses generally include information about gender identity and gender roles, sexual orientation, development, sexual behaviours and communication as well (Oswalt et al 2015). Many studies have shown that university students benefit by taking a university-or college-based sexuality course (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reasons students at a US University do or do not enrol in a human sexuality course

et al. 2019

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In this exploratory study, students at a US university were asked about their motivations for enrolling or not enrolling in a human sexuality course. Questionnaires were given to 617 undergraduate students enrolled in a human sexuality course and to 169 finalyear students who had not taken the course. The top five reasons students gave for enrolling were: (1) it seemed more interesting than other courses; (2) friends recommended it; (3) it met an academic requirement; (4) easy 'A'; and (5) other courses were full. The first reason for enrolling specific to desiring knowledge of sexuality was ranked sixth. Although the sexuality course has never limited enrolment, only a small percentage of undergraduates choose to take the course. The top five reasons that graduating seniors had not enrolled were: (1) could not work it into their schedule; (2) not interested; (3) not aware of the course; (4) already knew enough about sexuality; and (5) it did not fill a requirement. When some incongruent responses were eliminated, the primary reason for not enrolling was 'not interested.' The results indicate that sex educators should not assume that most college students want classroom-taught sexuality education. Suggestions are provided that may help increase interest.

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Pedagogy and content in sexuality education courses in US colleges and universities

Cited by 20 publications

References 26 publications

A content analysis of college students’ gaps in knowledge about sexually transmitted infections

A content analysis of college students’ gaps in knowledge about sexually transmitted infections

Do Adolescents and Young Adults Learn About Condoms from Healthcare Providers? Findings from a US Probability Sample

Reasons students at a US University do or do not enrol in a human sexuality course

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