Dataset Information

A Cross-Sectional Community Readiness Assessment for Implementing School-Based Comprehensive Sexuality Education in Islamabad, Pakistan.

ABSTRACT: Evidence indicates that school-based sexuality education empowers children and adolescents with the skills, values, and attitudes that will enable them to appreciate their health and well-being, nourish respectful social and sexual relationships, understand their rights, and to make informed choices. Owing to organized community resistance and prevalent misconceptions, promoting sexual and reproductive health has been challenging, especially in conservative settings like Pakistan. This study aimed at systematically exploring communities' perceptions regarding implementing school-based comprehensive sexuality education by conducting a cross-sectional community readiness assessment in Islamabad, Pakistan. A total of 35 semi-structured interviews were conducted with community key informants. Following the guidelines of the community readiness handbook, the interviews were transcribed and scored by two independent raters. The results indicate that, overall, the Islamabad community is at stage two of community readiness, the denial/resistance stage. Individual dimension scores indicate that knowledge of efforts, resources for efforts, knowledge about the issue, and leadership dimensions are at the denial/resistance stage. Only community climate was rated at stage three of community readiness, the vague awareness stage. This indicates that, for promoting sexuality education in the Pakistani context, it is essential to tackle resistance by sensitizing the community and the stakeholders through awareness campaigns.

SUBMITTER: Ahmed F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7914735 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

A Cross-Sectional Community Readiness Assessment for Implementing School-Based Comprehensive Sexuality Education in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Ahmed Furqan F Ahmad Ghufran G Paff Katharina K Samkange-Zeeb Florence F Brand Tilman T

International journal of environmental research and public health 20210204 4

Evidence indicates that school-based sexuality education empowers children and adolescents with the skills, values, and attitudes that will enable them to appreciate their health and well-being, nourish respectful social and sexual relationships, understand their rights, and to make informed choices. Owing to organized community resistance and prevalent misconceptions, promoting sexual and reproductive health has been challenging, especially in conservative settings like Pakistan. This study aim ...[more]

PMID: 33557441

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundAdolescent pregnancy is a global public health problem. Numerous approaches for Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) delivery in schools have been implemented around the world. Previous reviews on CSE did not follow the International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education (ITGSE) because CSE is very diverse in terms of population, interventions, settings and outcomes. We conducted this scoping review to identify and map the evidence of school-based CSE for prevention of adolescent pregnancy with emphasis on adolescents' contraceptive use, unintended pregnancy and abortion.MethodsWe searched PubMed, CENTRAL, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, CINAHL, and WHO ICTRP to identify potential eligible studies from their inception to 4th Nov 2023.We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-RCTs of CSE implemented in public or private schools for adolescents. CSE was defined as a multi-session intervention in school that covered topics including contraception, pregnancy, abortion, and HIV/STI. School-based interventions were the main intervention that may be either stand-alone or multicomponent. There was no limitation on study's geographical area, but only English-language studies were considered. Two reviewers selected and extracted data independently, discussed for consensus or consulted the third reviewer if there were discrepancies for final conclusion. Data were presented using figures, map and table.ResultsOut of 5897 records, 79 studies (101 reports) were included in this review. Most studies were conducted in the United States and other high-income countries in secondary or high schools with cluster RCTs. All studies included participatory methods. Almost all studies included Sexual and Reproductive Health which is the eighth concept of CSE. Very few studies reported the prespecified primary outcomes of contraceptive use during last sex, unintended pregnancy and abortion and hence this highlighted the gaps of available evidence for these outcomes. The number of concepts, components, duration and providers of CSE varied across the included studies. However, none of the interventions identified in this scoping review adhered to the ITGSE recommended approach.ConclusionsOur scoping review shows gaps in school-based CSE implementation in terms of completeness of concepts, components, providers, duration and outcomes recommended by ITGSE.

Project description:BackgroundLimited research has been conducted on the effectiveness of sexuality education for very young adolescents (VYAs) ages 10-14 years in Sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, evaluations of sexuality education programs often report outcomes of risky sexual practices, yet positive aspects of sexuality are hardly studied and rarely reported. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) intervention for VYAs in Uganda, analyzing both positive and negative outcome indicators.MethodsWe conducted a mixed methods study, incorporating a cluster randomized trial (NCT03669913) among pupils in 33 randomly selected primary schools in Mbarara district. This was followed by a qualitative evaluation of the intervention in 4 schools that included 14 in-depth interviews and 3 focus group discussions distributed among pupils, teachers and parents. Quantitative data were analyzed using ordered logistic regression to compare differences in the change from baseline to endline between the intervention and control arms. We conducted bivariate analysis and multiple regression analysis controlling for key covariates, including age, gender, school location (rural vs urban), truancy, and orphanhood. Qualitative data were analyzed by thematic approach using ATLAS TI.ResultsBetween July 2016 and August 2017, 1096 pupils were recruited. Outcomes were studied among 380 pupils in the intervention arm and 484 pupils in the control arm. The proportion of pupils who ever had sex increased from 9 to 12.1% in intervention compared to 5.2 to 7.4% in the control group between baseline and endline, however the differences between groups were not statistically significant. We found greater improvements in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) knowledge among intervention schools (AOR: 2.18, 95% CI: 1.66-2.86) and no significant differences in self-esteem, body image or gender equitable norms. Qualitative evidence echoes perceived SRH knowledge acquisition, increased their perception of SRH related risks, and intentions to delay sexual intercourse to prevent unwanted pregnancy, HIV and other STIs.ConclusionThis study demonstrates that CSE can improve SRH knowledge and behavioral intentions among VYAs in Uganda. These results further emphasize the importance of initiating sexuality education before most adolescents have started engaging in sexual activity, enabling them to make informed decisions in the future.Trial registrationNCT03669913 , registered retrospectively on September 13th, 2018.

Dataset Information

A Cross-Sectional Community Readiness Assessment for Implementing School-Based Comprehensive Sexuality Education in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Publications

A Cross-Sectional Community Readiness Assessment for Implementing School-Based Comprehensive Sexuality Education in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets