The impact of sexuality and HIV education on the sexual behaviour of youth.(SEX RESEARCH UPDATE)

Among the most widely cited documents in the literature evaluating sexual risk reduction interventions for youth is Kirby's (2001) Emerging Answers: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy. In a wide-ranging review of the existing literature, Emerging Answers established not only that well-designed intervention programs could be effective in reducing teen pregnancy, it also identified the common characteristics of effective teen pregnancy prevention programs. In a more recent report, Kirby, Laris, and Rolleri (2005) evaluated the impact of sex and HIV education programs on youth in developed and developing countries.

The authors reviewed 83 evaluation studies of curriculum-based sex and HIV education programs for adolescents or young adults aged 9 to 24 published after 1990. To be included in the review, the evaluation had to have a sample of at least 100, use an experimental or quasi-experimental design with both intervention and control groups, and both base line and post-test data. Only programs that measured behaviour (e.g., initiation of sex, condom use) or pregnancy/birth rates or STI rates were included. Of the 83 studies included in the review, 18 were conducted in developing countries (e.g., Brazil, Thailand, Kenya). The authors are careful to note that the programs reviewed typically focused specifically on sexual risk behaviour and not on broader issues such developmental stages or romantic relationships. All the studies employed one or more of the following to measure behavioural effectiveness: initiation of sex, frequency of sex, number of sexual partners, condom use, contraceptive use in general, sexual risk taking, pregnancy rates, STI rates. From their review of the evaluation studies, Kirby, Laris, and Rolleri (2005) conclude that,

    Overall,  these results strongly indicate that    these programs were far more  likely to have    a positive impact on behavior than a negative  impact. Two-thirds (65%) of the studies  
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