Effect of life-skills development program on the prevention of sexual-risk behaviors in early adolescents

Abstract

This study is a quasi-experimental study pretest and posttest design. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a life skills development program on the prevention of sexual risk behaviors which applied the life skills concept to the participatory learning process. The samples were students in Prathomsuksa 5 and 6. The experimental group of 35 students received a life skills development program to prevent sexual risk behaviors at Wat Bang Sai Nork Community School. And the comparison group was made of 35 students of Wat Khlong Tan School where they received a normal teaching method. The samples were randomly selected from the participating schools. The instruments used in the study were divided into 2 sets. Set 1 was a life skills development program to prevent sexual risk behaviors, and Set 2 was a self-administered questionnaire divided into 4 parts as follows: Part 1 is the sex education measure which has the validity at 0.75, Part 2 is the analytical thinking skills for risky behaviors that lead to sexual assault with a validity at 0.72, Part 3 is decision-making and problem-solving skills with a validity tested at 0.81, and Part 4 is measurement of communication skills and confidence with a validity at 0.79. The data were analyzed by percentage, mean, standard deviation Chi – square test, Independent t-test and Paired t-test.             The result was found that after the experiment, analytical thinking about risky behaviors, part 2, that leads to sex, decision making and problem solving (part 3), and communication and interpersonal skills (part 4) are higher than the comparison group and higher than before pre-test significantly (p<0.001).         This study can conclude that a life skills development program to prevent sexual risk behaviors is better than normal teaching. The program can be applied in conjunction with regular instruction to improve the skills of early adolescence