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Effects of an Educational Intervention on Angolan Adolescents’ Knowledge of Human Reproduction: A Quasi-Experimental Study
Background and objectives: Sex education is a necessity and a right of young people in Angola. However, this education is deficient or even absent in various subsystems and, therefore, the impact of an educational intervention on human biology and sexuality was addressed. Materials and methods: This...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2019
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6950465/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31861114 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16245155 |
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author | Almeida, Natércia Teixeira, Andreia Garcia, José Martins, Natália Ramalho, Carla |
author_facet | Almeida, Natércia Teixeira, Andreia Garcia, José Martins, Natália Ramalho, Carla |
author_sort | Almeida, Natércia |
collection | PubMed |
description | Background and objectives: Sex education is a necessity and a right of young people in Angola. However, this education is deficient or even absent in various subsystems and, therefore, the impact of an educational intervention on human biology and sexuality was addressed. Materials and methods: This quasi-experimental study employed a non-equivalent control group, pre-test post-test design. It was conducted with students from three secondary schools (6th to 12th grade, two public and one private) in Huambo (Angola), between June and December 2017. First, a questionnaire was distributed to assess the students’ knowledge on aspects related to sexual maturation, psychological development, gynecological organs’ anatomy, human fertilization, contraception, and risks of unprotected sexuality. Then, an educational program was developed by the principal investigator along with the school’s moral and civic education and biology teachers selected for a group of students (experimental group, EG); the others constituted the control group (CG). Classes were held on non-working days, on Saturday mornings (8:00 to 10:00 a.m.), so as not to interfere with the school calendar. The initial questionnaire was redistributed two months later to assess the impact of the intervention. Results: Of the 589 individuals included (mean age of 16.8 ± 2.5 years), 56.7% were males. EG (n = 241) consisted of students from the public school and CG (n = 348) by students from public and private schools. The last part of the questionnaire consisted of 30 questions to assess students’ knowledge, and in 23 of these questions, both groups showed no differences at baseline. After the intervention, the EG showed significant improvements (p < 0.05), while the CG revealed only slight improvements. Conclusions: Students from Huambo province have a significant lack of knowledge on human biology and sexuality. Rigorous development and evaluation of interventions addressing multiple individual and environmental level factors is needed, notably for effective education in human biology and sexuality. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6950465 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-69504652020-01-16 Effects of an Educational Intervention on Angolan Adolescents’ Knowledge of Human Reproduction: A Quasi-Experimental Study Almeida, Natércia Teixeira, Andreia Garcia, José Martins, Natália Ramalho, Carla Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background and objectives: Sex education is a necessity and a right of young people in Angola. However, this education is deficient or even absent in various subsystems and, therefore, the impact of an educational intervention on human biology and sexuality was addressed. Materials and methods: This quasi-experimental study employed a non-equivalent control group, pre-test post-test design. It was conducted with students from three secondary schools (6th to 12th grade, two public and one private) in Huambo (Angola), between June and December 2017. First, a questionnaire was distributed to assess the students’ knowledge on aspects related to sexual maturation, psychological development, gynecological organs’ anatomy, human fertilization, contraception, and risks of unprotected sexuality. Then, an educational program was developed by the principal investigator along with the school’s moral and civic education and biology teachers selected for a group of students (experimental group, EG); the others constituted the control group (CG). Classes were held on non-working days, on Saturday mornings (8:00 to 10:00 a.m.), so as not to interfere with the school calendar. The initial questionnaire was redistributed two months later to assess the impact of the intervention. Results: Of the 589 individuals included (mean age of 16.8 ± 2.5 years), 56.7% were males. EG (n = 241) consisted of students from the public school and CG (n = 348) by students from public and private schools. The last part of the questionnaire consisted of 30 questions to assess students’ knowledge, and in 23 of these questions, both groups showed no differences at baseline. After the intervention, the EG showed significant improvements (p < 0.05), while the CG revealed only slight improvements. Conclusions: Students from Huambo province have a significant lack of knowledge on human biology and sexuality. Rigorous development and evaluation of interventions addressing multiple individual and environmental level factors is needed, notably for effective education in human biology and sexuality. MDPI 2019-12-17 2019-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6950465/ /pubmed/31861114 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16245155 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Almeida, Natércia Teixeira, Andreia Garcia, José Martins, Natália Ramalho, Carla Effects of an Educational Intervention on Angolan Adolescents’ Knowledge of Human Reproduction: A Quasi-Experimental Study |
title | Effects of an Educational Intervention on Angolan Adolescents’ Knowledge of Human Reproduction: A Quasi-Experimental Study |
title_full | Effects of an Educational Intervention on Angolan Adolescents’ Knowledge of Human Reproduction: A Quasi-Experimental Study |
title_fullStr | Effects of an Educational Intervention on Angolan Adolescents’ Knowledge of Human Reproduction: A Quasi-Experimental Study |
title_full_unstemmed | Effects of an Educational Intervention on Angolan Adolescents’ Knowledge of Human Reproduction: A Quasi-Experimental Study |
title_short | Effects of an Educational Intervention on Angolan Adolescents’ Knowledge of Human Reproduction: A Quasi-Experimental Study |
title_sort | effects of an educational intervention on angolan adolescents’ knowledge of human reproduction: a quasi-experimental study |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6950465/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31861114 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16245155 |
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