Sex Education for Adolescents in School: A Case Study in Bangkok
Keywords:
school-based sex education, adolescents, case studyAbstract
Objective: To explore students’ needs for information on sex education, teachers’
and school administrators’ opinions on sex education for adolescents in school, and parents’
or caregivers’ attitudes towards adolescents’ sexual behaviors and sex education.
Design: Descriptive research.
Procedure: Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from three groups of
participants in two public secondary schools in Bangkok. The frst group (262 seventhand eighth-graders) completed the Needs for Sex Education Information questionnaire.
The second group (the students’ parents or guardians, totalling 227), responded to the
Attitudes towards Adolescents’ Sexual Behaviours and Sex Education questionnaire.
The third group (eight teachers and school administrators) participated in a semi-structured
interview. Descriptive statistics were used for quantitative data analysis, and content
analysis for the qualitative data.
Results: More than half of the students stated that they wanted their school to
increase the contents of sex education, particularly on pregnancy prevention and birth control,
decision-making and refusal skills, and sexually transmitted diseases. Teachers and school
administrators viewed sex education as a good approach to sexual risk prevention in
adolescents, and also identifed major limitations of the current sex education, which
included teachers’ lack of knowledge and skills, inadequate time, and absence of proper
teaching media. Effective school-based sex education should start at grades 4-6, along
with adjustment of its contents to meet the students’ needs and ongoing development of
teachers’ skills in giving sex education. Moreover, most of the parents or guardians
had positive attitudes towards sex education and realised that they should have a role in
teaching sex education to their adolescent children.
Recommendations: Teachers should be trained to improve their skills in giving
integrated, comprehensive sex education. Good communication between parents/
guardians and schools’ personnel should be established to enhance their collaboration
in teaching sex education. Further studies should focus on research and development
of school-based sex education models that can be applied to students at all levels.
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