Background: School-based, comprehensive sexual health education is an important strategy for addressing the needs of youth in rural communities. However, few evidence-based programs have been developed specifically for or with rural youth, thus raising questions of their applicability and acceptability. Methods: From September 2021 to January…

Limited research is available on the acceptability of comprehensive sex education for economically marginalized Black youth. The current evaluation study collected quantitative self-report data from 109 high-school-aged predominately Black or African American economically marginalized youth after completing a comprehensive sex education program.…

Purpose: Immigrant youth face both unique and disproportionate barriers to sexual health. Targeted sexual health education to redress these disparities requires creative and inclusive approaches that consider personal and community challenges and strengths. This study piloted a novel intervention: SExT: Sex Education by Theatre, a theatre-based,…

Peer education is a valued strategy for sexuality education and health promotion. Innovative approaches beyond traditional classroom settings offer critical opportunities to support adolescent sexual health. Yet, such models have been rarely used. "It's OK to Ask Someone (IOTAS)" is the first to use customized software to enable youth to…

The federal government funds grant programs designed to help youth avoid or reduce the risks associated with sexual initiation. In support of this approach, the Family and Youth Services Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) began funding General Departmental Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) grants in 2016. ACF…

The current state of U.S. sexual consent education among adolescents is inadequate. Despite known benefits of receiving accurate, comprehensive information and skills regarding effective consent communication during one's teenage years, adolescents are not receiving this education from their main sources of sexual information. Thus, scholars have…

This paper explores the use of withdrawal as a harm reduction approach to adolescent pregnancy prevention and its association with condom use. Data come from a baseline survey of a randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness of FLASH, a sexual health education curriculum. Study participants completed electronic self-report surveys in…

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of a financial inclusion project on youth's sexual risk behaviors and victimization. The project occurred in Ghana, where 100 schools were assigned to either a school-based savings program (SBSP), a marketing campaign, or a control group. Pretest and posttest data were collected in 2011 and…

Southern Africa remains the epicentre of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic with AIDS the leading cause of death amongst adolescents. Poor policy translation, inadequate programme implementation and fragmentation of services contribute to adolescents' poor access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services. This study…

This meta-analysis of 14 studies examines the relationship between abstinence-only programs and the sexual behavior and--attitudes of urban students from middle school to early in college. The results indicate a significant relationship between abstinence-only programs and the outcomes examined. Abstinence-only programs, as a whole, were…

Providing young people and children with age and developmentally appropriate comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is important for young people in making informed decisions. There are presently few studies documenting the relationship between school grade of learning CSE and curriculum coverage. We studied this relationship using a 2015…

While previous research identifies skepticism and some animosity among students towards school-based cyber-safety programs, drawing from focus group discussions with Canadian teens, this paper contributes to unpacking reasons for both support for 'what works' and antagonism for what is perceived to be lacking. Our findings reveal support for…

Objective: This study evaluated the longitudinal impact of the Teen Outreach Programme (TOP) on adolescent pregnancy, sexual behaviour, risky sex and sexual intentions in non-metropolitan high schools. Design: Pair-matched, cluster randomised controlled trial. Setting: Non-metropolitan public high schools in Florida, USA. Methods: TOP was…

Objective: Adolescents' unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections have a significant impact on the individuals themselves and on society. Peer leaders are students trained to become role models and leaders who promote positive behaviour change in their schools and community. A few studies have examined the effects of taking the role…

Although theater-based interventions have emerged as an innovative health education platform, more research is needed to understand how these interventions work and to identify factors that make them successful and replicable in adolescent populations. This paper discusses the first research project conducted on High School Sex Squads (HSSS),…