Development and Evaluation of a Sexual Health Literacy Promotion Program among Vocational Adolescents
Keywords:
Line application, sexual health literacy promotion program, sexual and pregnancy risk prevention behaviors, vocational studentsAbstract
Unwanted pregnancy among adolescents results from sexual risk behaviors, particularly inadequate sexual health literacy, which has been found to be prevalent among vocational adolescents. This quasi-experimental study employing a one-group repeated-measures design aimed to develop and evaluate a sexual health literacy promotion program for vocational adolescents. A convenience sample of eleven second-year students from a vocational college in Pathum Thani Province was recruited according to the study inclusion criteria.The program was developed by the researcher based on the concept of sexual health literacy and a review of relevant literature. It consisted of four participatory learning activities delivered through the LINE application on smartphones, focusing on accessing, understanding, evaluating, and applying sexual health information. The program was implemented twice a week, with two activities conducted each week.The feasibility of the program was evaluated based on its implementation and the participants’ activity participation rate. In addition, sexual and pregnancy risk prevention behaviors were assessed using a sexual and pregnancy risk prevention behavior questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.80. Outcomes were measured at three time points: pre-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up. Data were analyzed using a one-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA).The results indicated that the sexual health literacy promotion program was feasible for implementation among vocational adolescents. The participants achieved a participation rate of 91.7%. The mean score for sexual and pregnancy risk prevention behaviors during the follow-up period was significantly higher than those during both the post-intervention and pre-intervention periods (p<0.05). Furthermore, the mean score during the post-intervention period was significantly higher than that during the pre-intervention period (p<0.05).
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