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310097
A near peer approach to sexual health education: Findings from a North Carolina high school theater-based intervention
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Tamara Taggart, MPH
,
Department of Health Behavior, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC
Alexandra Lightfoot, EdD
,
Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Arianna Taboada, MSW, MSPH
Trang Tran
,
Department of Health Behavior, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC
Amy Butaine, MFA
,
Campus Health Services, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Stephanie Willis
,
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, Chapel Hill, NC
Scarlett Steinert
,
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, Chapel Hill, NC
North Carolina youth initiate sex at earlier ages, have more sexual partners, and are less likely to report using condoms during last sexual intercourse compared to the national average. School-based comprehensive sexual education (sex-ed) is an effective strategy to address these outcomes, yet “abstinence-only” approaches are prevalent, suggesting the need for innovative ways to introduce comprehensive sex-ed. AMP! (Arts-based, Multiple intervention, Peer-education) is an interactive, theater-based, sexual health education intervention delivered by near peers in high schools. Near peers are undergraduate students with similar sociodemographics as intervention participants, who share their struggles and successes in making protective sexual health decisions using drama and health education techniques. During AMP! high school students interact with near peers through performances and demonstrations to learn: sexual health, how to challenge sexual stigma, and skills to navigate adolescent sexuality. We used a pretest-posttest, control group, mixed-measures study design; data were collected from near peers, high school students, teachers and school district administrators. Quantitative analyses showed statistically significant (p<0.05) changes in high school students’ HIV knowledge and attitudes. Qualitative analyses revealed facilitators and barriers to using near peers. Facilitators included the perception of near peers as opinion leaders and their performances as a fun and open way to discuss sexual health. Barriers included near peers’ limited experience with comprehensive sex-ed and perception of some near peer performances contradicting school culture. Findings indicate the effectiveness of using near peers and the importance of identifying and testing innovative approaches to introduce comprehensive sex-ed in less progressive school settings.
Learning Areas:
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Protection of the public in relation to communicable diseases including prevention or control
Public health or related education
Social and behavioral sciences
Learning Objectives:
Identify barriers to implementing comprehensive sexual education curriculum in North Carolina public schools. Describe the role of near peers in implementing comprehensive sexual education in public schools. Evaluate an innovative strategy to affect curriculum changes to sexual education in public schools.
Keyword(s): Youth, School-Based Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an advanced doctoral student at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health whose research has focused on adolescent health behaviors for the past 10 years. I also served as a graduate research assistant on the intervention study that the data were drawn from for this abstract.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.