Assessing Sexual Health Knowledge, Attitude, and Perception Among Adolescents: A Pre-post Intervention Study in Varanasi, India

Introduction: Adolescents today are undergoing physical, emotional, and social changes to grow up as healthy and productive individuals. They have very specific needs that must be met, chief among which is sexual reproductive health information. However, even when information is supplied to adolescents, much of the information can be incorrect or even be used to encourage adolescents to practice sexual health adversely. It is thus the aim of this study to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions that adolescents have with regard to sex education and to assess the impact of a specific sex education program in the rural and urban settings of Varanasi, India. Materials and methods: The study was conducted using a single-group, pre-post interventional approach. A total of 370 adolescents (11-18 years) studying in schools and colleges of rural and urban areas of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, were selected as the study population. The present study assessed adolescents' baseline sexual health knowledge and their attitudes and perceptions regarding sex education and examined the immediate changes in these outcomes following a structured sex education session. A single session of sex education was conducted for the study participants after 60 minutes of baseline questionnaire, and the same questionnaire was administered to them immediately after the intervention. Paired comparisons were made using appropriate statistical tests. Results: The findings were further summarized to reveal that 70.0% of the adolescents studied had low knowledge of sex education, 41.4% had a low attitude towards sex education, and 61.1% had a low perception of sex education. However, all these scores indicated significant improvement in the knowledge, attitude, and perception (KAP) of the adolescents towards sex education following the intervention. The mean knowledge scores on sex education increased from 1.75±1.20 at the baseline to 4.53±0.85 at the end line. Similarly, the mean scores for attitude towards sex education increased from 3.59±1.60 at the baseline to 5.11±0.90 at the end line. The mean scores for perception on sex education increased from 1.38±1.01 at the baseline to 2.20±0.86 at the end line. The overall mean KAP scores increased from 6.72±2.61 at the baseline to 11.84±1.85 at the end line, with a mean gain of 5.11 points (95% CI: 4.79-5.44; p<0.001). The awareness of the adolescents regarding issues such as awareness of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community increased from 9.2% at the baseline to 84.1% at the end line. Conclusion: Thus, there was a significant change in KAP of adolescents with regard to sex education through the said intervention. The findings of the study would help in promoting and integrating into the school and college curriculum of the country, in general, and the state of Uttar Pradesh, in particular, sex education programs that are culturally appropriate to equip adolescents to make informed decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive health.