Effectiveness of the Sexual Health/Reproductive Health Education Given to Turkey Adolescents Who Use Alcohol or Substance.

OBJECTIVE: The research was conducted experimentally to evaluate the effectiveness of the sexual health/reproductive health (SH/RH) education given to Turkish adolescents who use alcohol or illicit substances.

METHODS: The population was adolescents who use alcohol and substances and were inpatients at the Child and Adolescent Substance Addiction Research, Treatment and Education Center. The adolescents were grouped into the following three groups: Group 1 (control group), Group 2 (those who have received training once), and Group 3 (those who have received training twice). Data were collected between September 2011 and December 2012 using the forms Self-Introduction and Information on Sexual Health-Reproductive Health and Information on Sexual Health-Reproductive Health Education Modules.

RESULTS: Upon studying the total SH/RH test scores of the groups individually, a statistically significant difference was observed in the scores of Groups 2 and 3 (p < .01). Upon studying the change in the posttest scores from the pretest ones for each group individually, the increase in the scores of Group 3 (34.57 ± 16.33) was observed to have a statistically highly significant difference from those of Groups 1 (2.73 ± 10.65) and 2 (20.23 ± 12.09; p < .01).

CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Adolescents who abuse alcohol or substances should be given SH/RH education in a repetitive manner for prevention of risky sexual behavior.