What Works for Women and Girls

tudes, self-efficacy, intentions, and perceived socio-cultural norms about communications.The 30-hour “I Want to, I Can… Prevent HIV/AIDS” program used gender-sensitive,participatory methods to teach fourth-graders a range of life skills. The programintroduced games to teach children about human physiology, anatomy, sexuality, andHIV/AIDS. The program had a significant impact on communication about sexuality,and it changed the perception in the community that parents should not talk to theirchildren about sex (Pick et al., 2007). (Gray IV) (adolescents, sex education, Mexico)A study of 31,000 primary and middle school students in China who received lifeplanning skills training in 2005 and 2006 promoting gender equity led to significantimprovements in sexual and reproductive health knowledge. A quasi-experimentaldesign with cluster sampling with matched controls for the intervention county foundthat young girls’ self-confidence and self-esteem also increased. An impact evaluationamong grade 4 and 7 students from 9 schools was conducted in 2006. Compared tothe control groups, grade 4 girls from the intervention significantly changed their attitudesregarding stereotypes of potential occupations. Willingness to use condoms alsoincreased among intervention students. Participants gained skills to handle choicesaround dating and drug use (Yang et al., 2008). (Abstract) (adolescents, sex education,China)Life skill-based HIV/AIDS education conducted in China between 2004 and 2007 in2,490 middle schools with 1,938,285 students increased significantly the percentageof middle school students—from below 14% to more than 62%—who both correctlyidentified ways of preventing sexual transmission of HIV and rejected major misconceptions(Han et al., 2008). (Abstract) (adolescents, sex education, China)2. Training for teachers to conduct age-appropriate participatory sexuality education canimprove students’ knowledge and skills.A review by UNESCO of 87 sex and HIV education programs in developing and developedcountries found that to have maximum impact, school-based sexuality educationmust be taught by trained teachers (UNESCO, 2009). (Gray I) (adolescents, sex education,teachers, training programs)A project in Uganda with students ages 13–14 that included teacher training found thatstudents whose teachers who had received training reported a significant decline bothin having sexual intercourse in the past month and in the average number of sexualpartners. Among students in the sample from the intervention schools, those who hadbeen sexually active fell from 43% in 1994 (123 of 287) to 11% in 1996 (31 of 280).Teachers were the main source of information for adolescents (Shuey et al., 1999 citedin James-Traore et al., 2004). (Gray III) (adolescents, teachers, training programs, Uganda)An intervention from 2006 to 2008 in Thailand trained 103 lecturers from 10 universitiesto promote comprehensive sexuality education. A new course, ComprehensiveSexuality Education Learning Design, was taught to 910 students in pre-service teacher124 CHAPTER 5 PREVENTION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE