The effectiveness of participatory theatre with early adolescents in school‐based sexuality education

Abstract

Public concern about adolescent sexuality has garnered considerable interest in recent decades. Most teenagers are either thinking about or acting on their sexual impulses. Yet notable controversy exists regarding sexual education among youth. Adolescents report sexuality education must speak to issues of interest to them and be delivered in a compelling manner. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of theatre as an effective means of education. Six hundred and twenty‐seven Canadian Grade Nine students completed a questionnaire before and after a theatre production as part of sexuality education in their schools. The limited statistically significant findings were unexpected. However, students revealed positive comments in interviews. The nature of theatre, the personal content of the play, and the science‐based methods of evaluation are suggested as reasons for this contradiction. Future research on theatre in school‐based sexuality education must incorporate qualitative research methods if different approaches to evaluation research in fine arts (such as drama) and social science are to be resolved.

Acknowledgements

The authors recognize the contributions of the Are We There Yet? Community–University Research Alliance and its partners to this article (see our website: www.ualberta.ca/awty). Further, this research was presented in part at the following conferences: Canadian Sex Research Forum, September 2006, in Ottawa, Ontario; Society for the Arts in Healthcare, April 2007, in Nashville, Tennessee; and the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, August 2007, in Vancouver, British Columbia.