Medical students as school sex educators: a comparative study

Medical students as school sex educators: a comparative study

Dear Sir

Sexually transmitted diseases, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and pregnancy are growing threats to the health of adolescents today. Therefore, effective strategies are needed to reduce sexual risks in this population. School sex education provides a key opportunity for primary prevention and to date it has been delivered by teachers, external experts such as nurses or medical doctors, and even older students. In 1999, Jobanputra et al. reported that 93% of pupils were in favour of medical student involvement in schools for the purpose of sex education. Inspired by their pilot study, we organized a programme to train fourth-year medical students at Université Claude Bernard (Lyon, France) as peer educators for sex education of adolescents. They were given support in communications, including role playing, and conceptualized ‘scenarios’ recounting the experiences of adolescent couples, with an emphasis on protection as well as abstinence. Teachers also participated in the training and explained difficulties in different classrooms. From three volunteer schools (18 classrooms), 423 adolescents aged 14.7 years were recruited and completed a first questionnaire testing their knowledge one week before the session. During the session, the emphasis was placed on maximum adolescent interaction, participation and dynamic learning. At the end of the session, a second questionnaire was filled out by the adolescents, and their satisfaction was estimated on a visual analogue scale. The responses with medical students as sex educators were compared with those of adolescents who underwent health professional intervention. Two major results appeared: (1) a single education session by medical students improved sex knowledge and was as efficient as a session with a health professional; (2) medical student sessions were associated with greater adolescent satisfaction than health professional sessions.

This study was the first to evaluate medical student intervention in school sex education, and the results were encouraging. In this project, medical students were presented as experts, and for most of them it was their first experience as professionals. It would also be interesting to evaluate medical students enrolled in this project to determine whether they are better at communicating with patients during their medical studies and their careers as doctors.