Sex education in Swedish schools as described by young women

Abstract

Objectives To investigate sex education in Swedish schools regarding content, satisfaction, and suggested improvements, as described by teenagers and young adults.

Methods Waiting-room survey conducted among 225 female patients (aged 13–25) at youth and student health clinics in one large-, and one medium-sized Swedish city.

Results Most participants (97%, n = 218) had received sex education in school, of varying content and quality. Sixty percent thought basic body development was sufficiently covered. Insufficiently covered topics included sexual assault (96%), sexual harassment (94%), pornography (90%), abortion (81%), emergency contraception (80%), fertility (80%), and pregnancy (59%). Thirty percent received no information about chlamydia, and almost half reported that condyloma and human papillomavirus had not been addressed. The youngest respondents (13–19 years) were significantly more likely to have been told about emergency contraception, homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality. Nearly half (46%) considered ‘acceptable’ the knowledge gained from sex education provided at school whereas more than a third considered it ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’. Suggested improvements included more information, more discussion, greater emphasis on sexual diversity, and more knowledgeable teachers.

Conclusions Content and quality of sex education varied greatly. Most respondents thought many topics were insufficiently covered, sex education should be more extensive, and teachers better educated.

Keywords:

• Sex education
• Teenage girls
• Young women
• Sweden

Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to the midwives who contributed to recruiting participants into this study.

Declaration of interest:

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.