Background: Parents play an important role in promoting the sexual health of their adolescents. However, many parents experience several challenges. The purpose of this study was to explore the concerns and educational needs of Iranian parents regarding the sexual health of their male adolescents. Methods: This qualitative study was designed based on the conventional content analysis approach. Semistructured and in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 parents of male adolescents aged 12-18 years. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were collected through purposeful sampling and continued until data saturation. Finally, the Graneheim and Landman strategies were used to analyze data. Results: According to the participants' comments, four main categories were extracted as follows: fear of emotional and sexual harms, quality of parent-child relationships, effect of media and cyberspace, and necessity of sexuality health education. Conclusions: The findings highlighted the need for sexuality health education through cooperation with schools for offering appropriate education to the students, parents, and school staffs. The results showed that parents required training to enhance their knowledge and skills to improve their communication with their adolescents about sexuality issues. Therefore, it is necessary to design, implement, and evaluate culture-appropriate educational programs to address the parents' concerns regarding adolescents' sexual health.
ObjectivesParents play a significant role in promoting of healthy sexuality in adolescents. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of a sexuality education intervention program to enhance parent–adolescent sexual communication.MethodsThis study was a randomized controlled field trial. Parents of male adolescent aged 13–16 years were recruited from eight public all-boys high schools in Karaj, Iran. A multi-stage stratified random sampling method was used and 102 parents were assigned into intervention and control groups. The recruitment and data collection process lasted from February to November 2019. Self-report demographic questionnaire and six general parenting and parent–adolescent sexual communication measures were used to assess the impact of intervention. Sexuality education program was presented for the parents of intervention group, in the form of four weekly 2-h sessions. Parents were assessed at the baseline, within one week post-intervention, and three-month follow-up to evaluate the outcome variables. The data were analyzed using the Chi-square test, two-sample t-test, general linear model analyses, and Bonferroni test.ResultsIn terms of parent–adolescent general communication, parental monitoring, parent–adolescent communication about sex-related topics, parent’s sexual communication skills, parent’s self-efficacy, and responsiveness to sexual communication. There were no significant differences between intervention and control groups at the baseline (p>0.05). Compared to controls, intervention parents reported more improvement in general communication across the time; however, significant differences were not observed regarding general communication and parental monitoring (p=0.94, p=0.95). Parents in the intervention group significantly differed from those in the control group for the mean scores of parent–adolescent communication about sex-related topics (p=0.04), parent’s sexual communication skills (p=0.04), parent’s self-efficacy (p=0.002), and responsiveness (p<0.001) to sexual communication at each follow-up.ConclusionsWe identified the educational program as a promising tool for improving parent–adolescent communication regarding sexuality-related issues. This program provides the evidence for implementation of parent-based sexuality education programs.
The authors would like to clarify that Shahnaz Babayanzad Ahari was incorrectly removed from the original article and should be included in the authorship. The updated, and correct, author group is shown in this erratum.Publisher's note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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