RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Urgent measures are required to stop the increase in the frequency of pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers. A means of facing this problem is promoting sexual abstinence among youngsters. There are studies that confirm the efficacy of this approach. AIM: To show the results of the application of a holistic sexuality program (TeenSTAR) among Chilean teenagers. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Students attending basic or high school were divided into a control or study group. The control group (342 students) received the usual education on sexuality given by their schools and the study group (398 students) participated in twelve TeenSTAR sessions lasting 1.5 hours each, given by a trained professor. Assessment of achievements was made using an anonymous questionnaire answered at the start and end of the program. RESULTS: The rates of sexual initiation among control and study groups were 15 and 6.5%, respectively. Among sexually active students, 20% of those in the study group and 9% of those in the control group discontinued sexual activity. CONCLUSIONS: A higher proportion of students in the TeenSTAR program retarded their sexual initiation or discontinued sexual activity and found more reasons to maintain sexual abstinence than control students.
Assuntos
Comportamento do Adolescente , Gravidez na Adolescência/prevenção & controle , Serviços de Saúde Escolar/normas , Educação Sexual/normas , Abstinência Sexual , Adolescente , Distribuição por Idade , Criança , Chile , Feminino , Saúde Holística , Humanos , Masculino , Gravidez , Avaliação de Programas e Projetos de Saúde , Distribuição por Sexo , Fatores SocioeconômicosRESUMO
PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of an abstinence-centered sex education program in adolescent pregnancy prevention, the TeenSTAR Program was applied in a high school in Santiago, Chile. METHODS: A total of 1259 girls from a Santiago high school were divided into three cohorts depending on the year they started high school: the 1996 cohort of 425 students, which received no intervention; the 1997 cohort, in which 210 students received an intervention and 213 (control group) did not; and the 1998 cohort, in which 328 students received an intervention and 83 (control group) did not. Students were randomly assigned to control and intervention groups in these cohorts, before starting with the program. We conducted a prospective, randomized study using the application of the TeenSTAR sex education program during the first year of high school to the intervention groups in the 1997 and 1998 cohorts. All cohorts were followed up for 4 years; pregnancy rates were recorded and subsequently contrasted in the intervention and control groups. Pregnancy rates were measured and Risk Ratio with 95% confidence interval were calculated for intervention and control groups in each cohort. RESULTS: Pregnancy rates for the intervention and control groups in the 1997 cohort were 3.3% and 18.9%, respectively (RR: 0.176, CI: 0.076-0.408). Pregnancy rates for the intervention and control groups in the 1998 cohort were 4.4% and 22.6%, respectively (RR 0.195, CI: 0.099-0.384). CONCLUSIONS: The abstinence-centered TeenSTAR sex education intervention was effective in the prevention of unintended adolescent pregnancy.