Healthy Sexual Communication for College Students

Problem Statement 

Adolescence, which is the period that defines most college students’ lives, marks a different critical period of transition, such as economic, physical, and psychosocial development. Notably, adolescence is the most preferred time for initiating programs that promote sexual and reproductive health. College students engage in risk-taking behavior, especially behaviors that concern touch sexuality. The immaturity of cognitive abilities among college students contributes to their inability to make rational decisions that generally lead to high-risk behaviors such as sexual intercourse. It is worth noting that engaging in sex at an early age is a predictor of poor sexual health. Sexual intercourse among college students increases the risk of sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, HIV/AIDS, and teenage pregnancies. Furthermore, it has a positive relation with sexual intercourse with multiple partners, and other health-related risky behavior later on in life. Close to 30 percent of college students engage in sexual intercourse that puts their health at risk (Widman et al., 2014). College students, both male and female, have a disproportionately high risk of STI infection than any other age group, proving the high prevalence of sexual activity among this group.  

Description of the Needs of College Students 

            College students comprise a heterogeneous group with evolving and different needs based on their life circumstances and personal development stages. As they transition from childhood into adulthood, it is imperative to equip the students with the necessary knowledge and skills that will enable them with the intelligence and wits required to make sound decisions and navigate the challenges that may come across. The mentioned efforts should focus on contributing to building their sense of self-worth. They also intend to reinvigorate their sense of belonging to the society or a given community. College students require protection from harm and the autonomy and guidance to help them make the right decisions. They need counseling and health services to keep their faculties in check and stay in good health, especially on sexual matters. It is imperative to help adolescents build social, economic, sexual, and educational skills that will help them navigate life challenges.  

            Family members and parents have an important role in delivering appropriate interventions, such as preparing both girls and boys and building equality among the gender norms to ensure that their children do not engage in risky behavior when they get to college. Furthermore, their roles encompass guiding the adolescents in accessing interventions provided within the community that may include immunization form Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and other voluntary medical services that serve to preserve them from harm. It is the objective of all parents to have their sons and daughters growing up to become productive members of society. Nevertheless, in many cases and places, college students are unprepared for sensitive matters such as puberty, sexuality, and reproductive health. For parents to productively engage their children about the mentioned issues, it is important to convince of the value, engaged, and supported to the point that they own the knowledge, dispel misconceptions, fears, and hopes.  

            Due to their sage in psychosocial development, college students require different health, social, and education services. The Convention on the Rights of the Child outlines the right of adolescents and college students to the mentioned services. However, the reality is that the providers of the mentioned services do essentially meet the required threshold and the standards on the child’s rights. In an attempt to fill the gap, it is vital to invest efforts in developing empathy and competence among educationists, social workers, health-care workers, and other concerned parties to ensure proper development of this group of individuals. Supporting and training service providers is essential since it ensures effective service delivery, curative, and preventive interventions necessary for guiding the students. The methods applied should focus on identifying the root cause of the problem and then devising the best possible solutions that will help the students take charge of their sexual health. The objective is to adopt and implement evidence-based approaches that meet the students’ point of need, meaning that the selected approach should consider the students’ level of sexual development.  

            On matters of sexuality, most college students tend to engage in and are victims of risky sexual behavior, poor sexual decision-making, and incidents of sexual assault. The risky sexual behaviors portend problematic sexual outcomes that may include but not limited to non-consensual sexual behavior, unplanned pregnancies, and sexually transmitted infections. Proper understanding of risky sexual behaviors among college students is the first and the most important step towards creating targeted prevention programs. There is a close correlation between risky sexual behaviors and the environment. For instance, students who take alcohol are most likely to engage in unprotected and risky sexual behaviors. It is imperative to note that alcohol intake is not a sole predictor of risky sexual behavior. There is a positive relationship between alcohol consumption, drug use, and engagement in risky sexual behavior such as unprotected sex, unplanned sex, and several sexual contacts.  

Sexual Health Model and STI Prevention (Theory Application) 

            The sexual health model stipulates that sexual freedom encompass more than the freedom from sexually transmitted diseases, sexual assault, or sexual coercion. The theory acknowledges the significance of sexual knowledge. Additionally, it recognizes the value of effective communication sexual pleasures and that of human relationships. It focuses on mental health but moves beyond that in delving into sexual integration, which refers to the convergence of a person’s behavior and sexual values. The model further entails cultural diversity because the definition of and sexual practices may vary based on culture and social background. The model seeks to focus on sexual education that is culturally sensitive and relevant. The model promotes sexual health and can be applied to the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. In most cases, culturally tailored strategies that target a particular community on sexual matters tend to be more effective and lead to more positive outcomes (Shiferaw et al., 2014). The model posits that culturally relevant interventions are more relevant because they attract targeted participants. Furthermore, HIV prevention programs such as college students find the material more relevant, believable, understandable, and interesting; therefore, they are more likely to be attentive, understand, remember, and apply it. 

The model advocates the application of sexual health practices derived from the norms and culture of a particular or targeted community. It is applicable in seminars on sexual health that involve the target audience, which in this case are the college students. Such is attainable by involving multiple focus groups, and peer and professional educators from the target population of college students. The application of the model should rely on the sexual pluralism of Reiss and Reiss, which advocates for an individual to accept and recognize the rights of others to be different from others in terms of choice and belief. The founding principle behind the choice of the model is the belief that it should encourage participants to have independent thinking, identify their sexual feelings, develop personal sexual morality, their needs, and preferences, to make informed individual choices, and to develop personalized plans for prevention of HIV and other STIs.  

Program Hypothesis 

            The program on the sexual health of college students will take the community-based approach. The community-based approach has certain distinct characteristics that include but not limited to social, political, cultural, economic norms that define the community. The program will mainly focus on abstinence and safe sexual practices. As mentioned, the program will mainly target college students since they are at higher risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases due to their risky sexual behaviors and the involvement in drug and alcohol abuse that increases the propensity to risk sexual behavior (Ayalew, Mengistie, & Semahegn, 2014). The program should aim to support and empower college students to take control of their sexuality and sexual activities.  

             The main objective of the proposed program is to test the ability of the program is to essential interventions in supporting college students to avoid risky sexual behavior that is responsible for unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, among other problems. The main arena for implementing the program should be communities where the students come from and the colleges where the students undertake their studies (Chi & Winter, 2012). The interventions that the program will bring forth will serve to foster parental and community meetings that promote supportive norms that will help in educating the students on the benefits of abstinence and the protected sexual intercourse with a trusted partner. The meetings should be held at least once a month and should have peer educators train them on sexual health.  

The program will seek to establish adolescent clubs within colleges to increase the knowledge of contraceptives and promote a change of sexual culture, beliefs, and behavior relating to sex and sexual activities within colleges (Capurro et al., 2014). Through the mentioned activities and the application of a multi-sectorial approach that entails engaging all the stakeholders that include the course instructors, educationists, the adolescents, and the program coordinators and representatives, it is possible to change the sexual culture within colleges by promoting responsible sexual behavior.  

It is important to note that changing the sexual culture in the targeted group requires various interventions within the whole system of education and at home that respond to the students' needs. As mentioned earlier, certain irresponsible sexual behavior is instigated by the use of alcohol and drugs. The interventions should, therefore, be multifaceted to include various areas such as the college, the health facilities, and the community where students study, work, live, play and socialize (Jozkowski et al., 2014). The program's main objective is to include the mentioned stakeholders and focus on effective interventions that implement community dialogue and youth club meetings coordinated by trained teachers, peer counselors, student leaders, medical professionals, and parents (Breuner et al., 2016). The program will rely on the realist theory that will help the planners, implementers, and evaluators of sexual interventions on adolescents complete their duties and help others who may hope to implement a similar program, especially in the college context, emulate the proposed program.  

Educational Objectives of the Program 

To celebrate rationality and the fact that the students are humans 

Supporting the development of sexually healthy youths and adults begins with teaching and learning sexuality in manners that celebrate human diversity and the existence of sexual feelings in humans. The aim should be not to scare them but train them on how to handle their feelings responsibly.  

To help the students develop proper decision-making skills 

College students need to be equipped with information on the possible outcomes of irresponsible sexual behavior, which should include both positive and negative, if any, the allowed to make decisions (Pedrelli et al., 2015). They need opportunities to reflect on the best way to respond if any sexual circumstance arises.  

To realize the well-being, health, and dignity that include the personal health or well-being of others as well 

It encompasses understanding and appreciating the range of life desires, experiences, and identities that exist in the world, even when such may differ from the beliefs held by individuals.  

To help the students develop responsible sexual and social relationships 

It aims at helping the students understand that people may choose to be in a relationship and or and that such a decision is personal (Jozkowski & Peterson, 2013). The students should understand that one may decide to be attracted to another and that the engagement in sexual intercourse has consequences and should be guarded responsibly.  

The students should consider the effects that their decisions have on the well-being of others and their own 

It means that they should be careful about how they interact with others and that the latter may have long-lasting implications. Such is where the lessons on respect of boundaries, consent, and avoiding coercion are valuable.  

The program serves to educate the students to master and protect their rights as long as they live 

Human sexuality is a life skill topic that will help the students even in their future lives regardless of their age. They should understand that everyone has the right to be treated with respect and dignity, and the subsequent responsibility to treat others as such. 

Content Outline 

The program’s content will be diverse, as it aims to change the sex culture and beliefs among college students. The content will include education on responsible sexual behavior, the cause and the effects of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, the causes and the effects of sexual coercion, and the right to respect people’s orientation and treat their choices and decisions with respect and dignity. College students tend to engage in and are victims of risky sexual behavior, poor sexual decision-making, and incidents of sexual assault. The risky sexual behaviors portend problematic sexual outcomes that may include but not limited to non-consensual sexual behavior, unplanned pregnancies, and sexually transmitted infections. The program’s overall objective will be to help the students identify and avoid risky sexual behavior that may jeopardize their future. 

Delivery Methods 

The training of the students on matters sexuality will mainly be conducted using lectures that will help them take charge of their lives. The main arena for implementation of the program should be lecture halls where the students undertake their studies. The interventions that the program will bring forth will serve to foster educational and parental meetings that promote supportive norms that will help in educating the students on the benefits of abstinence and the protected sexual intercourse with a trusted partner. The lectures should be held at least once a month and should have peer educators train the students on sexual health. In the lectures, the various stakeholders will address the students on matters of sexuality. As mentioned, the stakeholders will include the parents, the course instructors, the guidance and counseling professionals, and selected students. The students will have a session to pose questions on pressing issues and get answers as the seminars progress. The objective is to understand and appreciate the range of life desires, experiences, and identities that exist in the world, even when such may differ from the beliefs held by individuals (Salazar et al., 2014). Finally, the students will be given reference materials that they may carry home to learn more about sexual morality and responsibility. 

Evaluation Instruments 

The lectures will be evaluated using the Instructional Skill Questionnaire (ISQ). The ISQ should be administered after each lecture to determine the students’ understanding of sexual health and sex-related issues (Knol et al., 2016). It will serve as a formative feedback instrument for the lecturers to assist in improving and evaluating the lecturer’s skills and the subsequent understanding by the students. The ISQ is ideal in this particular scenario since it will contain seven dimensions of the lecturer’s instructional skills and three self-perceived student learning outcomes. The students will rate the level of instructions given while simultaneously gauging their won understanding of the subject matter. The instructor will then use the feedback obtained from the ISQ to improve his instructional skills and boost the lectures’ outcome. 

References 

Ayalew, M., Mengistie, B., & Semahegn, A. (2014). Adolescent-parent communication on sexual and reproductive health issues among high school students in Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia: a cross sectional study.  Reproductive Health ,  11 (1), 1-8. 

Breuner, C. C., Mattson, G., & Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health. (2016). Sexuality education for children and adolescents.  Pediatrics ,  138 (2), e20161348. 

Capurro, D., Cole, K., Echavarría, M. I., Joe, J., Neogi, T., & Turner, A. M. (2014). The use of social networking sites for public health practice and research: a systematic review.  Journal of Medical Internet Research ,  16 (3), e79. 

Chi, X., Yu, L., & Winter, S. (2012). Prevalence and correlates of sexual behaviors among university students: a study in Hefei, China.  BMC Public Health ,  12 (1), 972. 

Jozkowski, K. N., & Peterson, Z. D. (2013). College students and sexual consent: Unique insights.  Journal of Sex Research ,  50 (6), 517-523. 

Jozkowski, K. N., Peterson, Z. D., Sanders, S. A., Dennis, B., & Reece, M. (2014). Gender differences in heterosexual college students' conceptualizations and indicators of sexual consent: Implications for contemporary sexual assault prevention education.  The Journal of Sex Research ,  51 (8), 904-916. 

Knol, M. H., Dolan, C. V., Mellenbergh, G. J., & van der Maas, H. L. (2016). Measuring the quality of university lectures: Development and validation of the Instructional Skills Questionnaire (ISQ).  Plos one ,  11 (2), e0149163. 

Pedrelli, P., Nyer, M., Yeung, A., Zulauf, C., & Wilens, T. (2015). College students: mental health problems and treatment considerations.  Academic Psychiatry ,  39 (5), 503-511. 

Salazar, L. F., Vivolo-Kantor, A., Hardin, J., & Berkowitz, A. (2014). A web-based sexual violence bystander intervention for male college students: Randomized controlled trial.  Journal of medical Internet Research ,  16 (9), e203. 

Shiferaw, K., Getahun, F., & Asres, G. (2014). Assessment of adolescents’ communication on sexual and reproductive health matters with parents and associated factors among secondary and preparatory schools’ students in Debremarkos town, North West Ethiopia.  Reproductive health ,  11 (1), 2. 

Widman, L., Noar, S. M., Choukas-Bradley, S., & Francis, D. B. (2014). Adolescent sexual health communication and condom use: a meta-analysis.  Health Psychology ,  33 (10), 1113.