Educating young people to graduate school with the ability to protect their sexual and reproductive health: a mixed-methods study

ABSTRACT

Many young people in Australia leave secondary school with little understanding of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). This study aims to describe Australian teachers’ experiences when providing SRH education, map their use of resources, and explore barriers and strategies to increase students’ skills and confidence to protect their SRH. Quantitative data were gathered via an online questionnaire (n = 189) before qualitative data were elicited via semi-structured interviews (n = 16). Descriptive statistical analyses were conducted on non-parametric data, with Mann-Whitney U tests being used to explore differences between groups. Deductive thematic analysis identified three themes and five sub-themes. Participants valued SRH education and were confident to provide it. They reported having access to a range of resources but not the time or awareness to use these resources to greatest advantage. Participants believed that barriers to providing SRH education, such as non-specialist teachers and students not choosing Health as a subject in the later years of schooling can be overcome with teacher education and training. Findings paint a somewhat positive picture of SRH education in Australia including life-changing learning experiences for students, a range of useful resources available to teachers, and the potential of SRH education when staff and school leadership recognise it as a priority.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual and reproductive health
• sexuality education
• education
• mixed-methods

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research was provided from the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF). The MRFF provides funding to support health and medical research and innovation, with the objective of improving the health and wellbeing of Australians. MRFF funding was provided to the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre under the MRFF Boosting Preventive Health Research Program.