School-based comprehensive sexual health education - from evidence to implementation and evaluation: case study from italy
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University of Pisa Italy
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University of Pisa, Italy
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Bundeszentrale für Gesundheitliche Aufklärung (BZgA), Germany
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University of Foggia Italy
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University of Verona Italy
Publication date: 2023-04-26
Popul. Med. 2023;5(Supplement):A741
ABSTRACT
Brief outline of the overall workshop:
Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a key dimension of health and well-being of individuals, especially relevant for young people. Global health organisations (e.g. WHO, UNESCO, E/CDC) and multicountry reviews recognise school-based sexuality education (SBSE), as one of the most important means of promoting sexual well-being of adolescents and a key component of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) prevention. International evidence recommends that SBSE should be addressed with a global approach to sexuality, that UNESCO defines as comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). SBSE, however, is still not available for many young people around the world, including Italian adolescents. Italy, in fact, is one of a few European countries that still lacks a comprehensive approach to SBSE coherently and equally implemented across the country, or included in schools’ curricula. EduForIST project, funded by the Italian Ministry of Health in 2019, aims at providing an overview of SBSE in Italy and to develop and implement two pilot projects in secondary schools across the country.
Specific aims/objectives and component parts
Introduction:
Sexuality and education: how to address this dimension in schools?� Sexuality education represents an educative action that, nurtured by medical and scientific information, is aimed at making people flourishing in all the directions of their existence.
* School-based sexuality education in europe and central asia: _2016 IPPF and BZgA initiated a scope review to get an overview of the progress made in developing and integrating SBSE into formal school settings in 26 countries of the WHO European Region. The main key findings and recommendations as well as a global overview will be addressed._
* _Co-creation of sbse interventions in lower and upper secondary schools in italy: EduForIST is a multidisciplinary and intersectoral project that aims at providing theoretical and practical tools for SBSE to be implemented in Italian schools._
* Implementing comprehensive sbse interventions in italy-experiences from the field: report on the results and evaluation of EduForIST pilot projects in secondary schools.
* How to evaluate a sbse intervention: experience from an italian pilot project: starting from an epistemological reflection on the concept of evaluation in education, we proposed a framework that enable sexual educators in evaluating the implementation of the pilot project, using a qualitative approach. The written texts have been analysed through a phenomenological approach, showing the strengths and weaknesses of the project, the favourable conditions of the setting/institutions and the postures requested to a competent educator.
Conclusions:
Future perspectives and recommendations for sbse in italy
Key questions:
The workshop aims at enhancing public health interest and to foster debate on the topic of SBSE and the need to promote its implementation in the school context. The following questions will be addressed:-which role can school play in promoting SRH?-what is CSE and which topics should address?-which stakeholders should be involved in the creation and implementation of SBSE interventions?-which outcomes can be evaluated and which results can be expected?-how can a SBSE intervention be evaluated?