Effects of the Sexual Communication Program on Sexual Attitudes and Communication Skills of Parents and Female Junior High School Students

Abstract

Abstract: This quasi-experimental research was a two-group pretest-posttest design which aimed to study effects of a sexual communication program on sexual attitudes and communication skills of parents and female junior high school students. The sample comprised 50 parents of female junior high school students and female students taken care by those parents purposively selected from two schools in Kumphawapi District, Udon Thani Province, and randomly assigned to an experimental group and a comparison group (25 per group). The instruments included the sexual communication program developed by applying David K. Berlo’s communication skill development theory. The program was organized in a workshop format, carried out 5 times over a period of 8 weeks. Data were collected at pre- and post- intervention using questionnaires on sexual communication attitudes and sexual communication skills that had already been tested for validity and reliability. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-test. The findings demonstrated that after intervention, the average score for attitude towards communication about sex and sexual communication skills of parents in the experimental group was better than before as well as significantly better than that of the comparison group (p < .05). In addition, the average score for attitude towards communication about sex and sexual communication skills perceived by female students of parents in experimental group was better than that of the comparison group (p < .05). Therefore, parents
should be educated to have a knowledge with good attitude on sexual communication, which would enhance better communication skills to talk to their teens.