Multidisciplinary peer-led Sexual and Reproductive Health education programme in France, a prospective controlled-study

Abstract

Background: Sexual education is an international priority to promote sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and to reduce risky sexual behaviour. Experts recommend holistic and comprehensive SRH peer-led education.In 2018, the French government launched a new public health peer-led prevention programme called “Service Sanitaire” (SeSa), consisting of health education provided by healthcare students (peer educators) to teenagers. During the first year of the programme and for the first time in France, the impact of the programme was prospectively evaluated to examine whether the programme improved the SRH knowledge of healthcare students and teenagers. Risk perception and risky sexual behaviour among these populations were also evaluated.Method: A prospective multicentre controlled study was conducted from November 2018 to May 2019. SRH knowledge was compared before and after the SeSa programme, and the evolution of this knowledge was compared, with linear regression, between healthcare students benefiting from the SRH SeSa programme and those who were part of another programme. The same analyses of knowledge were performed for teenagers who received the SeSa SRH interventions compared to teenagers who had no specific SRH education programme. Risk perception and risky behaviour were studied before and after the programme among healthcare students and among teenagers.Results: More than 70% of the targeted population participated in the study, with 747 healthcare students and 292 teenagers. SRH peer educators increased their knowledge score significantly more than other peer educators (a difference of 2.1 points/30 [95% CI 1.4 – 2.9] (p[between group] < 0.001)). Teenagers receiving the SeSa intervention also had a greater increase in their knowledge score than the other teenagers (+5.2/30 [95% CI 3.2 – 7.4] p[between group] <0.001). There was no evidence of change in sexual risk behaviours for the healthcare student population. Conclusion: The “Service Sanitaire” programme significantly improved the sexual and reproductive health knowledge of peer-educator healthcare students and teenagers compared to a classic education programme. Longer and/or qualitative studies are needed to evaluate changes in sexual behaviour as well as positive aspects of sexuality.