Session: Support for Sexuality Education


Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

3222.0: Monday, December 12, 2005: 12:30 PM-2:00 PM

Oral

Support for Sexuality Education

This program is designed to highlight support from parents, teachers, and voters for sexuality education. The first presenter will explain the methodology, data collection procedures and results of a state-wide registered voter survey designed to assess support for sexuality education. 81% of registered voters support a comprehensive approach to school-based sex education inclusive of information on abstinence and contraception. The second presenter will compare the level of support expressed by parents for abstinence education with their expressed support for contraceptive education. Results indicated that the majority of parents surveyed supported teaching all topics surveyed with implications for the development and implementation of public school sexuality programs. The third presenter investigated pre-service educator’s perceptions, knowledge and confidence for teaching sexuality topics to students. Results suggest the need for effective, pre-service sexuality education training programs to enhance knowledge and self-efficacy of pre-service educators.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participants will be able to: 1. Identify level of support for comprehensive sexuality education among voters, and parents. 2. Understand the use of the Theory of Diffusion of Innovations as a guide to develop a survey and disseminate the results. 3. Identify knowledge and self-efficacy of pre-service teachers for teaching sexuality concepts to students.

Organizer(s):

Maria Theresa Wessel, EdD, CHES

Moderator(s):

Christopher M. Ledingham, MPH, CHES

12:30 PM

Registered voter support of comprehensive sexuality education in South Caorlina