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. 2018;14(4):466-489.
doi: 10.1080/15546128.2019.1626311.

Key factors influencing comfort in delivering and receiving sexual health education: Middle school student and teacher perspectives

India D Rose  1 , Lorin Boyce  1 , Colleen Crittenden Murray  1 , Catherine A Lesesne  1 , Leigh E Szucs  2 , Catherine N Rasberry  3 , J Terry Parker  3 , Georgi Roberts  4
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Key factors influencing comfort in delivering and receiving sexual health education: Middle school student and teacher perspectives

India D Rose et al. Am J Sex Educ. 2018.

Abstract

Sexual health education (SHE) provides students with knowledge and skills to establish healthy relationships, understand sexual development, and prevent risk behaviors; therefore, it is critical to understand how to optimize the delivery and receipt of this education. Using a grounded theory approach, interviews with middle school health education teachers (n=13) and focus groups with students (n=41) were conducted to examine factors that influence perceived comfort delivering and receiving SHE in a public school district. Findings identified key barriers including disruptive behavior, insufficient time, and lack of dedicated classrooms. Some key facilitators to comfort included professional development and establishing ground rules.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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