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Despite national guidelines advocating a comprehensive, age-appropriate, and sequential approach to sexual health education in schools, many young people in the USA do not receive sexual health information until high school. To date, there has been little research on the need for a supplemental round of sexual health education – a 'booster' – later in adolescence to reinforce and expand upon information and skills previously provided. In rural California, we conducted six focus groups with young people (N = 22, ages 14–20) and key informant interviews with youth-serving professionals (N = 10) to examine the sexual health education needs of youth as they complete high school. Five themes were identified, indicating a need for booster education that 1) reinforces existing sexual health knowledge; 2) expands beyond traditional areas of sexual health education; 3) addresses community stigma about adolescent health; and 4) prepares young people for the transition to adulthood. In addition, booster education should 5) be established within the school system to promote an environment that addresses and normalises health issues throughout the school year. Providing booster sexual health education may meet critical gaps in efforts to support the healthy sexual development of young people, especially those living in rural communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the politicization of abortion, professionals working in U.S. health departments (HDs) may not be receptive to communications about abortion, despite often regulating abortion facilities. This paper reports results of a randomized, prospective, observational study to test the effects of e-mail language when disseminating evidence on abortion to HD professionals. Our sample was 302 HD employees who oversee healthcare facilities inspection/regulation in all 50 U.S. state HDs, clustered by HD and randomized into two study groups. In November–December 2019, we sent biweekly e-mails containing links to a website summarizing evidence on abortion facility regulation. E-mails/headers sent to one group emphasized public health values and did not include the word abortion; e-mails/headers to the other group used the word abortion. Primary outcome measures were e-mail open rates and click-through rates. Among 221 participants to whom e-mails were deliverable, the overall open rate was 36%. Open rate was 25% for PH values and 46% for abortion groups (p <.05). Effects were moderated by state abortion policy environment: in both supportive and restrictive environments, participants in the abortion messaging group were statistically more likely to open e-mails than those in the PH values group. There was no difference between groups in states with middle-ground abortion policy environments. Among participants opening at least one e-mail, 19% clicked through to the website, with no significant difference by group. This study demonstrates that repeated targeted e-mail campaigns can reach HD professionals with research summaries. Concerns that communications to HDs should avoid the word abortion are unsupported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous classroom-based interventions have aimed to improve sexual health outcomes for young people, yet few have shown strong, lasting effects. Ecological approaches that address multiple levels of a young person’s environment offer largely untapped potential to positively change sexual behaviour. This paper presents results of a cluster-randomised trial of a multicomponent sexuality education intervention that integrated a classroom curriculum, parent education workshops and materials, peer advocate programme, and sexual health services at 10 urban high schools. An implementation evaluation, employing quantitative and qualitative instruments, was conducted to examine whether the individual components of the intervention were delivered as planned and how they were received by the target populations. Multilevel modelling was used to evaluate the effect of the multicomponent intervention on outcomes at one-year follow-up. Results showed that the intervention components were successfully implemented with and well received by target populations. Students receiving the multicomponent intervention reported greater increases in the use of sexual health services (odds ratio [OR] = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.09–2.75) and the likelihood of carrying a condom (OR = 2.71, 95% CI = 1.44–5.09) relative to those receiving a control condition. No effects were found for other behaviours, possibly due to low prevalence of sexual activity in the sample and the small number of schools randomised. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: Develop and validate measures of adolescents' attitudes about sexual relationship rights.Methods: Items were completed by students in a large U.S. city (N= 655). The authors conducted an exploratory factor analysis, evaluated internal consistency, and assessed construct validity, including ability to predict sexual behavior at 1-year follow-up.Results: Factor analysis identified 2 distinct factors, comprising attitudes about rights to refuse unwanted sexual activity (5 items) and express sexual engagement needs (5 items) in a sexual relationship. The measures showed sound evidence of reliability and construct validity.Conclusions: The psychometric evidence supports the use of these measures in adolescent sexual health research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of a lifetime history of illicit drug dependence-abuse among hospitalized patients, and to determine the rate of identification of these patients by physicians. This cross-sectional study included patient interview and chart review in an acute-care teaching hospital. The participants were 235 randomly selected inpatients with medical, neurologic, or surgical diagnoses. The prevalence of lifetime history of dependence-abuse of at least one class of illicit drug was 11.9%. Across all classes of drugs, hospitalized patients had higher prevalences than community estimates. Only 18% of patients had documentation of having been asked about illicit drug use compared to 49% having been asked about alcohol use. There was no significant difference in physicians' asking across clinical services: Medicine 21%, Neurology 15%, Surgery 14%, Smokers, unmarried persons, and patients without a regular physician were most likely to have been asked. Screening for drug abuse is not routinely performed and documented among hospitalized patients. Wider identification of persons at risk for drug use may allow for specific physician interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an empirically grounded contribution to scholarship exploring the ways in which pleasure is 'put to work' in sex and sexuality education. Such research has cautioned against framing pleasure as a normative requirement of sexual activity and hence reproducing a 'pleasure imperative'. This paper draws on interviews with sexual health and education practitioners who engaged with Pleasure Project resources and training between 2007 and 2016. Findings suggest that practitioners tend to understand pleasure within critical frameworks that allow them to avoid normalising and (re)enforcing a pleasure imperative. Accounts also show negotiations with, and strategic deployments of, values surrounding sexual pleasure in society and culture. While some accounts suggest that a pleasure imperative does run the risk of being reproduced by practitioners, notably this is when discussing more 'contentious' sexual practices. Interviews also demonstrate that practitioners attempting to implement a pleasure agenda are faced with a range of challenges. While some positive, holistic, and inclusive practice has been afforded by a pleasure approach, we argue that the importance of a critical framework needs to be (re)emphasised. The paper concludes by highlighting areas for further empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]