Sex education reduces sexual practices unhedged among young people by 50%.

-A study of AIDS Studi reveals that the information source most used by girls aged between 14 and 16 are their friends and friends, while boys prefer Internet to find out.

Spain, 2011-October AIDS Studi has published the results of the evaluation of its educational activities for the promotion of sexual health prevent to enjoy ” and how to prevent how enjoy ” aimed at young people in the year 2010-2011. Studi AIDS has made this assessment through two questionnaires, the first before performing the intervention and the second one month after the session, 429 young of 2nd cycle of ESO and 191 young people from bachillerato participants in the workshops for the promotion of sexual health and reducing the associated risks (STI)(, HIV/AIDS and unplanned pregnancies) that i provided the Association in different schools during the academic year 2010-2011.

Thanks to this policy of evaluation of educational interventions, AIDS Studi has data relating to the practices and knowledge have youth related sexual health before starting our workshop. According to the data obtained, 23% of the boys as of 2nd cycle of ESO already have had sexual relations involving penetration and in high school and middle grade training cycles, this figure increases to 53%.

As regards the source of where the young people extract information about sexuality, 60 per cent of girls and 44 per cent of boys in the 3rd year and 4th of ESO obtained sexual information mainly from their friends. It also emphasises the significant difference between boys (33%) and girls (3.4%) in the search for information on the Internet. In the young people of high school and vocational training, the second source of information is the school (31 per cent girls, 27 per cent boys) while in that only 18 per cent of girls and 4 per cent of boys go to school. This fact is explained by the lack of resources on sexual health in the school curriculum at these ages.

In relation to preventive methods, condoms to the penis is the most widely used method. 55% Of the 2nd cycle of ESO youth always used a condom and a 20% almost always while in high school and vocational training more than 70% of the young verbalizes use it always or almost always.

As to the results obtained once made AIDS Studi intervention, highlights the fact of young people to reduce their unprotected sexual practices by 50%. In secondary education and vocational training, 28 per cent of the young verbalizaban have had sex unprotected before the intervention while a month after the end of the speech observed that these data decrease, especially in the case of children in more than 50%. In the case of 2nd cycle that, before initiating the speech about 20% of the young people had sexual practices without protection while a month after the end of the workshop observed that only 12% had unprotected sexual practices.

Finally, AIDS Studi highlights the increase in knowledge about sexual health that acquire the young people after their interventions. In this sense, will demystify many aspects related to sexual health, their perceptions and their prejudices towards people with HIV and the transmission of the infection., for example, made once workshops 30% more than the guys and girls know that the reverse is not an effective preventive method against a possible pregnancy and 15% vary their perception on the concept of sexuality, being broader and not focused solely on vaginal penetration.

The importance of sex education in schools

The data indicate that this type of intervention are very useful for the young people, as seen in the decline in the number of unprotected sexual practices. For this reason AIDS Studi considers very useful to be able to have a space where the youth can talk about sexuality and thus be able to solve all your questions ”.

He has also been able to observe how this type of intervention in sexual health have been made to reflect to the young people on other aspects, as gender, social skills, assertiveness, sexual freedom and guidance. Therefore, AIDS Studi believes it is necessary to maintain this type of intervention to clarify possible doubts and reinforce positive behaviors that already have.

On the other hand, from the NGO was agreed in highlighting the work of the teacher and educator, generating a space of confidence where the boys and girls feel comfortable, which facilitates dialogue and learning, and therefore considered essential to be able to continue with the interventions in schools.

Finally, AIDS Studi highlights the fact that 23 per cent of boys and girls of 2nd cycle of ESO have already maintained sexual practices involving penetration, so think it would be helpful to include sex education in the educational project of the Center and work well throughout the academic cycle sexuality, not only in high school, depending on the characteristics of the evolutionary moment facing the young. In this way could work all aspects related to sexuality and relationships that this intervention does not cover ”.

Educational AIDS STUDI actions and evaluation

Educational actions developed by the Department of training and prevention of AIDS STUDI are intended to provide information on sexual health and the associated risks (STDs, HIV/AIDS and unplanned pregnancies) through specific methodologies according to the collective participant, influencing the importance of people’s sexual healthas well as the training of these to deal with possible situations of risk.

One of the main objectives of the Department is to provide scientific validation of these educational interventions, contemplating the process, the analysis of context and its effectiveness. As a result, the Department has developed various written documents describing the methodology and objectives of educational interventions performed as well as the dynamics that used them has been made available to the users through its website.

On the other hand, AIDS STUDI is implementing an evaluation of satisfaction and result of their educational actions to find out if they are having the desired effectiveness. AIDS Studi believes that the evaluation is needed to legitimize our work and make the work of prevention of HIV/AIDS more useful everyday. This made available to the public the results of the assessments for the year 2010-2011 in their interventions, as well as articles also can extend the information with the opinion article published on the website of AIDS Studi by Eva Soto Rubioresponsible for developing these reports.