Educational program
Evaluation of the parents as primary sexuality educators program

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.05.004Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

To determine the effectiveness of a sexuality education program designed to help parents become more confident and competent in communicating with their children about sex and sexuality.

Methods

Parents attending a four- to five-part workshop series between February 2001 and April 2002 were recruited to participate. A total of 27 workshop series were conducted at various sites in neighborhoods with high teen pregnancy and STD rates. For each series, program staff administered written pre- and post-workshop surveys to parents and parent surrogates. A follow-up telephone survey was conducted with participants 10 weeks after the last workshop. Matched pre-workshop and follow-up surveys were obtained from 174 participants.

Results

Comparison of follow-up to pre-workshop responses revealed that more participants thought discussing sexuality with their children was very important (83% vs. 75%; p < .01). More participants also reported that they often initiate conversations with their children on a variety of topics including sex/intercourse, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), pregnancy, sexuality and gender issues, and their personal standards for sexual behavior. Participants also became more comfortable discussing sensitive topics with their children. At follow-up, more participants responded that they were very comfortable answering their children’s questions on the above topics. (All p values < .01.)

Conclusions

The Parents as Primary Sexuality Educators program may be an effective way to increase parent-child communication about health, sexuality, and values. Enhancing parents’ ability to communicate expectations and values about sexuality may help support children in making healthy decisions about sexual behavior as adolescents.

Section snippets

Program design

The PAPSE program was designed by the Family Resource Centers of Rochester to help support parents in communicating effectively with their children about sexuality. PAPSE attempts to recruit parents of young children (ages infant–12 years) in particular. The program consists of a series of four core and two optional group workshops delivered over a period of approximately one month. Community residents (most are parents themselves) undergo at least 15 hours of structured training, and serve as

Results

A majority of the respondents were female (92%) and nonwhite (53% black, 32% white, 8% Hispanic, 5% other or multiracial). Their mean age was 36.33 years (±11.38) with the actual ages ranging from 19 through 77 years. On average, participants reported having three children (2.59, ±1.76) under the age of 18 with children’s mean age equaling 6.22 years (± 3.58).

Discussion

The PAPSE program improved parents’ abilities to communicate about sensitive topics such as sex/intercourse, HIV and STDs, and standards for sexual behavior. After participating in the workshop series, parents reported having a greater ability to initiate conversations with children and feeling more comfortable responding to their children’s questions.

A strength of this program is that it was able to reach a very hard to engage population—parents who are disconnected from family, school, and

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Rochester Coalition Partnership for the Prevention of Teen Pregnancy and the Metro Council for Teen Potential. The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent the views of the funding agencies.

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