Students’ Usefulness Perception of the Knowledge Acquired in the School Sexuality Education Course

Abstrakt

Background: Comprehensive, science-based sexuality education (SE) is an integral part of health education. In the Polish education system, SE is mainly implemented as part of the subject ‘Family Life Education’. However, its content, the conducting form and assessment by students arouse controversy and are numerous social and scientific discussions subject.

Purpose: The study aimed to explore the subjective assessment of the knowledge usefulness acquired during school SE in the opinion of adolescents.

Method: A survey among students aged 13–17 from schools in one region of western Poland was conducted using an online method in spring 2024 (N=9411). In a subgroup of 5210 students declaring participation in SE classes, the determinants of their positive assessment were studied with the use of univariate and multivariate methods.

Findings: Among students who attended school SE, 37.5% stated that the knowledge they acquired was useful. In the multifactorial model of logistic regression, also the relationship was confirmed between the classes assessment of usefulness with the discussed subjects. What was particularly emphasized was the sexual orientation and STIs issues, where the highest OR factors were obtained. The results also point to a significant diversification of the usefulness assessment of the knowledge acquired during lessons depending on the gender, education stage, place of residence and declared wealth of the family.

Conclusion: Positive assessment of school SE is mainly correlated with the proper teacher preparation and the appropriate selection of topics. Meanwhile, demographic and social factors determine students’ demand for specific issues related to sexuality.