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Evaluation of intervention effect of peer-led education on sexual health of rural left-behind middle school students in Sichuan

WANG Yang1, XU Xiao-yang1, CAO Hong-mei2, ZHANG Xue-rui3, WANG Jian-ling4, SU Li4   

  1. 1.School of Public Health, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China; 2.Office of Teaching Affairs, Sichuan University of Arts and Science, Dazhou 635000, China; 3.Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China; 4.Department of Cardiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China
  • Online:2014-05-28 Published:2014-05-30
  • Supported by:

    Youth Project of Social Science Research of Ministry of Education,09YJC840057; Popular Science Project of Shapingba District of Chongqing, 201203

Abstract:

Objective To evaluate the intervention effect of peer-led education on the sexual health of rural left-behind middle school students and explore the health education mode suitable for rural left-behind students in West China. Methods Three rural schools in Dazhou, Sichuan province were sampled by the multi-stage cluster random sampling method. Six second grade classes of each school were selected and randomly divided into the peer-led education group, traditional education group, and control group. Data of questionnaire surveys before and after the intervention were analyzed to evaluate the short term effect (knowledge). Follow-up surveys of the peer-led education group and traditional education group were conducted after being intervened for six months to evaluate the medium and longterm effect (attitude and behavior). Results The awareness rate of sexual health knowledge of the peer-led education group increased from 49.4% to 75.3% and the average sore increased from 6.77±3.14 to 8.61±2.88 after being intervened. The differences were statistically significant (P=0.001). The awareness rate of sexual health knowledge of the traditional education group increased from 51.0% to 67.5% and the average sore increased from 6.89±2.91 to 7.41±3.11 after being intervened. The differences were statistically significant (P=0.024). The difference of the average sores of the control group before and after intervention was not statistically significant (P>0.05). The average sore of the peer-led education group immediately after intervention was 8.61±2.88, which was significantly higher than 7.41±3.11 of the traditional education group (P=0.000). The difference of the average sore was 1.19 (95%CI was 0.58-1.81). Follow-up surveys after six months showed that rates of positive attitude of the peer-led education group and traditional education group increased and rates of negative behavior decreased compared to those before intervention (P<0.05). The results of the peer-led education group were better than those of the traditional education group (P<0.05). Conclusion Sexual health education for rural left-behind middle school students is effective. The peer-led education method is more suitable. Changes of health attitude and behavior still need further study.

Key words: left-behind middle school students, sexual health, knowledge-attitude-practice, peer-led intervention