Many scholars and practitioners have advocated for a more ecological approach to sexual health promotion for adolescents, such as one that includes involvement from schools, parents, and community organizations. Although extensive research has been conducted with schools and parents, little is known about the roles community-based organizations (CBOs) may play in the education and promotion of sexual health to young people. This study aimed to (a) identify the types of sexual health and sexuality-related questions asked by youth and programming/services, resources, and referrals currently being provided by CBOs; (b) explore the approaches used by CBOs when developing and implementing sexual health promotion programs; and (c) compare these findings with those from a similar study on school teachers, counselors, and nurses within the same state. Data collected from 169 people working in CBOs indicate that a wide variety of topics were covered by CBOs through programming and services, resources, and/or referral protocols. Topics covered varied in frequency. Overall, participants indicated a relatively comprehensive and accessible approach to providing sexuality information to youth. The results of this study suggest that CBOs should be included in the range of sources to be used for comprehensive sexual health promotion. If such organizations are supported with information, training, and resources, they could play a valuable role in the promotion of sexual health for adolescents.
Adolescents in the United States continue to face sexual health issues. While community-based organizations (CBOs) have a long history of addressing the sexual health needs of those they serve, little attention has been given to CBOs focused on adolescent populations and the role youth development professionals (YDPs) might play in the advancement of sexual health.The purpose of this study was to assess the potential of YDPs to provide sexuality information to youth by 1) determining the frequency and type of questions YDPs receive from youth on sexuality and 2) ascertaining the perceived comfort, confidence, skills, and knowledge of YDPs in answering questions from youth and YDPs Providing Sex Information 37 characteristics that might be predictive of increased levels of perceived comfort, confidence, skills, and knowledge.Utilizing a community-based participatory research process that engaged the researchers with leaders, key stakeholders, and youth development professionals from community-based organizations throughout the state, data were collected from 169 YDP in Indiana. YDPs received questions from youth on a broad array of sexuality-related topics with personal skills and relationships being the most frequent topics. YDPs had high perceived levels of comfort, confidence, skills, and knowledge (CCSK) in addressing questions from youth about sexuality. Training, both formal classroom-type training and more informal practices such as advice-seeking from a professional, was the only factor predictive of higher levels of CCSK.Results indicate that YDPs might play an important role in providing sexuality information to youth. Communities interested in ameliorating disparities among youth might want to consider including CBOs and YDPs in an ecological approach to sexual health education.
Youth development professionals (YDPs), working at community-based organizations are in a unique position to interact with the adolescents as they are neither parents/guardians nor teachers. The objectives of this study were to explore qualitatively what sexual health issues adolescents discuss with YDPs and to describe those issues using the framework of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) comprehensive sexuality education guidelines. YDPs reported conversations with adolescents that included topics related to the SIECUS key concepts of human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, and sexual health.
Whether presentation format (video, audio, written transcript, or written transcript with photograph) affects participants' responses to counseling scenarios in an analogue study was examined. After watching a brief counseling session presented in one of four formats, 131 participants completed three instruments measuring counselor credibility and expectations. Results revealed significant differences among the formats on teh COunselor Rating Form (CRF-S; Corrigan & Schmidt, 1983) Trustworthiness and Expertness Scales, with transcripts with pictures rated the highest (higher than videotape and audiotape) and transcripts without pictures rated second highest (higher than video). No significant differences between the presentation formats were revealed on the Expectations about Counseling Questionnaire (EAC; Tinsley, Workman, & Kass, 1980) or 15 Personal Problem Inventory (15PPI; Cash, Begley, McCown, & Weise, 1975). Results suggest that studies using differing formats with the CRF-S are not necessarily comparable and that the four types of analogue approaches may not be interchangeable.
Although there are numerous ways to obtain accurate information about sexuality, research suggests that many American adults do not have accurate sexuality and sexual health knowledge. This research investigated selected sexual knowledge and attitudes of adults in Indiana. A representative sample of men (n = 158) and women (n = 340) aged 18 to 89 was surveyed via telephone interviews regarding sexuality-related topics. The level of sexual knowledge was determined from 14 content based questions, for example questions about sexually transmitted infections, gender, sexual orientation, and other reproductive health topics. Additionally, Indiana adults were surveyed about their beliefs regarding certain sources of influence over young peoples' sexual values. Key findings of the research indicate that adults in Indiana do not have accurate information about sexuality and seem to have widespread sexuality-related misperceptions and misinformation. This lack of sexual knowledge or misinformation may negatively impact the sexual health of Indiana adults and, by extension, their children. Additional findings and implications for educators, health professionals, and policymakers are discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.