Efecto de un diseño educativo sobre salud reproductiva y sexualidad en los estudiantes de primer semestre de la Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia

Abstract

An experimental approach was applied to 423 first-semester students at the Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia, to evaluate the effect of educational design on reproductive health and sexuality. Students were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups. Development of the educational design was carried out through a series of twelve-hour workshops about reproductive risks (pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and abortion among adolescents), the anatomy and physiology of genital organs, birth control methods, and attitudes toward human sexuality. Reproductive health and sexuality knowledge was greater among middle-class students from health sciences careers, who had finished their high school in private, not mixed institutions, and whose parents were more educated. Differences in knowledge and attitudes about sexuality between control and experimental groups before the educational design were not statistically significant. However, a statistically significant increase in those topics in the experimental group after receiving the educational design was observed. Toe's hypothesis that the educational design improves knowledge and modifies attitudes about reproductive health and sexuality among students was demonstrated.