Effectiveness of a parent-based intervention to improve adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health knowledge: a pilot study

OBJECTIVES: Adolescents continue to demonstrate uneven sexual and reproductive health (SRH) knowledge, particularly in applied domains such as contraception, gender identity, and digital safety. While school-based education emphasizes biological aspects of reproduction, structured family-based SRH education remains limited. This study examined whether empowering parents with structured, culturally sensitive SRH content and professional guidance may improve adolescents' SRH knowledge through parent-adolescent communication on sexual issues (PACS). METHODS: A quasi-experimental single-arm pre-post pilot study was conducted among Malaysian parent-adolescent dyads. Parents received a six-week structured SRH module delivered via a website, supported by healthcare professionals through digital platforms, and engaged in PACS. Adolescents completed a validated 30-item SRH knowledge questionnaire at baseline and post-intervention. RESULTS: Fifty adolescents with a mean age of 14.45 (SD=1.50) years completed the study (completion rate: 89.3 %). Median knowledge scores increased significantly from 19.0 (IQR=11.5-26.5) to 23.0 (IQR=17-29) (p<0.001, r=0.62). Significant improvements were observed across several knowledge domains, including contraception misconceptions, oral sex and pregnancy risk, gender identity, digital safety, grooming awareness, and abortion (r=0.28-0.40, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study provides preliminary evidence that empowering parents with digitally delivered, structured SRH education and professional support can enhance parent-adolescent communication and improve adolescents' knowledge, particularly in sensitive and under-addressed domains. This family-based approach offers a feasible and scalable complement to school-based SRH education, especially in culturally sensitive and resource-limited settings.