Promoting Comprehensive Sexuality Education to Adolescents through Primary Care

Young people in the United States continue to engage in risky sexual behaviors that result in negative health outcomes. Sources of sexuality education include reliable sources (parents, teachers, and primary care providers [PCPs]) and unreliable sources (media and peers). Parents face communication challenges with their children. Schools are restricted to abstinence-based curricula, which are ineffective. Primary care providers fall short because of personal and health system barriers. Sexually active teens also have barriers to health care that is confidential and financially accessible. Therefore, the default sexuality education heavily relies upon the media, which miscommunicate the consequences and actuality of sexual activity. Best practices in comprehensive sexuality education include not only anatomy and physiology, but also emotional, social, and relational information about sexuality. Sexuality information should come from multiple reliable resources (parents, teachers and PCPs) over a lifetime. Comprehensive sexuality education promotes delayed sexual activity and protective behaviors, such as condom and oral contraceptive use. Primary care providers have an opportunity to offer resources and education on healthy sexuality to adolescents and their families in order to bridge the gap of sexuality health knowledge. This project aimed to equip PCPs with education and tools that will encourage them to consistently offer comprehensive sexuality education and resources to adolescents and their parents in an effort to improve adolescents' health outcomes. The objectives for this project include: 1) Assess current PCP knowledge, experiences, and barriers to providing sexuality education to adolescents and parents; 2) Develop and present an education module and related resource tool for PCPs in an effort to standardize the process of providing comprehensive sexuality education to adolescents/parents; and 3) Disseminate findings to peers through professional podium or poster presentation. A Likert scale questionnaire was completed by nine PCPs and showed that even though providers felt comfortable (mean 4.22 ± 0.44), knowledgeable (mean 4.44 ± 0.53), and experienced (4.11 ± 0.78) with sexuality education, their knowledge of reliable community resources was lacking (mean 3.11 ± 0.93). An educational module that was accompanied by a brochure on reliable resources and evaluated by pre- and post-tests was presented to six PCPs. The mean pre-test score was 59% ± 8%, and the mean post-test score was 89% ± 6%. Pre- and post-tests data were further analyzed using a paired t-test, which supported a statistically significant increase in provider knowledge (p value < 0.05; p=0.000086). Teens are often sexually active and at risk for negative health consequences of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. This project demonstrated how an educational module accompanied by a brochure on reliable resources can support PCPs, who are in an excellent position to provide comprehensive sexuality education and to support healthy sexuality in adolescents and their families throughout a lifetime.