Youth participation in setting the agenda: learning outcomes for sex education in Ireland (original) (raw)
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Sexual Health & Youth: A qualitative study
Executive Summary Background: A health promotion project was undertaken by headspace Central West Gippsland to inform young people about Chlamydia, jointly funded by Gippsland Medicare Local and the Department of Health. Called Sexual Health & Youth, the project used instant text messages forwarded to young people via their smart phone device, who nominated to be part of the project. The project did not reach a significant number of young people, so a second project was undertaken to find out why communication about sexual health was so restricted. Sexual Health & Youth 2 used qualitative research among young people in the Baw Baw local government area. Method: One-on-one interviews were carried out with 15 young people (8 males, 7 females; aged 17-22 years), selected using purposive sampling from a variety of local institutions and community groups. Interviews were semi-structured and used a combination of open and closed questions, to find out young peoples’ memories of their school-based sexuality education (‘sex ed’), their perception of their community’s support for their ongoing sexual health, and their opinion on the installation of public condom vending machines. Transcripts were analysed using the qualitative software NVivo to produce a number of dominant themes. Results: A number of psychosocial themes were identified within young peoples’ responses in interview. Sex as Status; Sexual Affect; Gender Distinction; and Confidence in Sexual Health were themes identified through initial coding, leading to a major theme in selective coding; Private Sex V. Public Sexual Health. These themes related specifically to young peoples’ reflections on themselves and others in their peer group, as they considered sexual interactivity among their age group and their perceptions of their community responses. Specifically, young people are estranged by the methods in which sexuality education is taught, not only overtly in the real-world curriculum, but also by an underlying exclusion message that defines sexual activity as a private adult pursuit and sexuality discourse as being restricted to adults. This estrangement is both gender biased and discriminatory, and perpetuates social, sexual inhibition in young people that results in negative and costly public health outcomes. Conclusion: Sexual health must be made a public phenomenon for its messages to be passed from educators and health professionals to young people – but this is severely hampered by the private nature of the act itself. Because the act of sex is socially restricted to a private environment – with all of its associated emotional and psychological import – it must be divorced from this emotional investment to be taught to each consecutive generation. In the formal educational curriculum, sexuality education is located within the health spectrum, and discussion that acknowledges and fosters emotional intelligence has only been included in formal health education. As this becomes more effective, sexuality education in schools can be less about risk management and more about an investment in an enriched sense of self.
Sexual health services and education: Young people’s experiences and preferences
2006
Abstract Objective To ex mine young people's requirements nd per eptions of sexu l he lth servi es nd edu tion in the ontext of their experien e of sexu l rel tionships nd knowledge of sexu l he lth. Design A questionn ire sed ohort study. Setting Three hundred nd sixty Ye r 11 students ( ged 15–16 ye rs) surveyed in three Se ond ry S hools. Method The study re eived ethi l pprov l from The North W les Centr l Ethi s Committee. S hool nurses distri uted questionn ires in l ssroom onditions to ll students present on the survey d y.
Working with young people: Towards an agenda for sexual health
In this paper we outline key elements of a human rights-based framework for sexual health promotion that takes account of young people's needs and interests. This framework is located against the backdrop of a critique of the way in which negative de® nitions of`sexual health' and of adolescence', as well as restrictions on open and appropriate sex education in schools, undermine the likelihood that young people will achieve optimal bene® t from existing services and strategies in countries such as England and Scotland. Central to our analysis is an af® rming and positive de® nition of sexual healthÐ that focuses on the attainment of sexual pleasure and which links sexuality to an expression of individual and collective needs and broader human rights and responsibilities. We point to ways in which such a framework might inform the provision of appropriate information about positive sexual health, and of more accessible and integrated sexual health services. We also highlight the need for measures to improve young people' s con® dence and aspirations, and to increase youth participation in decision making in matters relating not only to their sexual health, but also to the wider social and community environments within which young people's sexuality is negotiated.
Culture Health & Sexuality, 2004
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. The RIPPLE Study Team This paper presents data on the need for sexual health information and advice of 4353 students aged 13/14 years in 13 English secondary schools. Data were collected by peer educators as part of a sex education programme, and through a questionnaire survey administered by researchers. Data illustrate young people's need for concrete information and advice on issues related to physical development and puberty; transmission of sexually transmitted diseases; accessing and using condoms and other contraception; using sexual health services; managing relationships and dealing with jealousy, love and sexual attraction; how people have sex; sexual pleasure; masturbation; and homosexuality. Differences between the concerns and interests raised by young people and current UK guidance on sex and relationships education are examined, and the implications of these findings for designing future policy and effective school based sex education programmes are discussed. The paper highlights some of the wider social norms around sex and sexuality that influence young people's understanding and sexual behaviour, and the importance of addressing these within sex education is noted. Factors influencing the processes of expressing and assessing needs are explored.
2015
This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version HIRST, J. (2004). Researching young people's sexuality and learning about sex: experience, need, and sex and relationship education. Culture, health and sexuality, 6 (2), 115-129. Repository use policy Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in SHURA to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain.
It has been recognized that to be effective, sexuality education must meet the needs and interests of young people (Aggleton and Campbell, 2000). However, this acknowledgement has often manifested in adults ultimately determining what young people's needs and interests are. This article focuses on what senior school students determine as important and relevant programme content from focus group and survey data. Participants' suggestions provide a critique of current sexuality education provision that is clinical, de-eroticized and didactic. Young people's calls for content about emotions in relationships, teenage parenthood, abortion and how to make sexual activity pleasurable offer insights into how they understand themselves as sexual subjects. Student responses position them as having the right to make their own decisions about sexual activity and to access knowledge that will enable their engagement in relationships that are physically and emotionally pleasurable. This positioning sits in conflict with the preferred non-sexual identity young people are offered by the official culture of many schools . It is proposed that this tension has implications for how programmes constitute student sexuality and their effectiveness in empowering young people to view their sexuality positively and make positive sexual decisions.
Sexual health education interventions for young people
BMJ, 1995
To locate reports of sexual health education interventions for young people, assess the methodological quality of evaluations, identify the subgroup with a methodologically-sound design, and assess the evidence with respect to the effectiveness of different approaches to promoting young people's sexual health.
Young people’s perceptions of their sex education
Australian journal of sex, marriage, and family, 1981
Young people's perceptions of their sex education Who taught them When they learned and How satisfied they are Jennifer Kaye 1 SYNOPSIS A pilot study of 172 students attending secondary schools in the Australian Capital Territory reveals that while 84% had some sex education from their parents and 74.4% believe they can discuss contraception at home, school programmes are both their main source of information and their preferred source. However parents remain the strongest influence on students' moral opinions concerning sexual behaviour.