This page lists resources and programs that can influence the social environment in schools to promote sexual health and prevent sexual health problems. This can be done through a variety of peer, parent, whole school and community programs, campaigns and projects.


Overview

School policies and practices

Peer Programs


Parent Education, Involvement, Support Programs


Staff Wellness

Working with local Community Organizations/Campaigns


Brief interventions (Celebrity, school events etc)








Supportive Social Environment – refers to the mental health and social support available within the school and in relation to the home and community. It may be informal (i.e. friends, peers, teachers) or formally articulated through school policies (4). Examples include: role modeling by school staff and others; peer support and support group development; community participation and media cooperation; staff wellness programs; appropriate school discipline policies and effective management practices; and active student and parent participation.

As it relates to sexual health education, the following provide examples of ongoing efforts across Canada:

Youth engagement: Involving youth in reproductive health and HIV programs can assist the programs themselves, increasing credibility, visibility, and publicity, according to several studies.

The Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement offers a variety of research and resources of interest to youth engagement in general as well as items of relevance specifically to sexual health education, for example:

Youth-Adult Partnerships Show Promise
YouthNet: Partners in reproductive health and HIV prevention - March 2003
This brief summarizes the benefits of involving youth in local programming as well as at institutional levels. There are evidence-based benefits for involved youth (such as improved skills, more meaningful relationships with adults, enhanced social competence) and for adults (enhanced commitment, greater understanding of youth contributions), and for organizations (enhanced quality and relevance, credibility). These benefits can be transferred to the field of reproductive health and HIV prevention, and YouthNet has created some useful tools for adult-youth partnership (also available on the Family Health Internation website).
http://www.fhi.org/en/Youth/YouthNet/Publications/YouthLens+English.htm


Peer Support Manual (Saskatoon Action Circle on Youth Sexuality Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement – 2004) This practical guide is written by an experienced adult ally for other adult allies that are supporting students to start a peer support group in their school. Based on learnings from the Youth Launch: Youth Facilitation Leadership Program, the philosophy of empowerment, engagement and promoting youth sexual health and peer support principles are key to the success of this program. The guide describes ideas that adult allies can use to establish a peer support group, including youth facilitation training activities, a focus on gaining administrative and parental support, resources, and real-life examples of methods of implementation.

From the McCreary Centre Society whose mission is to “foster wider understanding of the importance of youth health, increase knowledge about youth health needs and issues, advocate for continuing commitment to youth health issues, and initiate and implement innovative projects which directly address unmet health needs of young people:

• LGB Youth Health: Not Yet Equal: The Health of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Youth in BC takes a closer look at the health of LGB youth, their life experiences, and risk behaviours across all three AHS surveys. This report reveals both hopeful and worrying trends, fewer than expected differences between rural and urban LGB youth, and ongoing health disparities for LGB teens compared to their heterosexual peers.
• Youth Participation: YAC Link is a great resource for anyone interested in organizing a Youth Advisory Council (YAC). It's a how-to manual for YACs, with tips and "best practices" from 3 established YACs, all with different models.

Are you getting enough? : youth advocacy toolkit to help you improve school sexual health education from Options for Sexual Health (BC): Anadvocacy toolkit is for youth in British Columbia who want to improve school sexual health education for themselves and other students. It can be combined with a complementary toolkit, "Your power as a parent," developed for the parents of youth who want to help their children advocate for comprehensive and accurate health information in schools.

The (US) Youth Activist Network (YAN) is composed of more than 10,000 youth from communities all across the country. These young people work together to fight for accurate sexual health information and services so that they can prevent unintended pregnancy and/or STIs (sexually transmitted infections), including HIV. Network members advocate for comprehensive sex education and science-based family planning and HIV prevention services at home and abroad. The YAN works to change policies that are harmful to young people into policies that support youth’s access to accurate sexual health information and confidential health care.

The Adolescent Girls' Mentorship Study from the Centre for Youth and Society at the University of Victoria (BC) (http://web.uvic.ca/~mentor) is acommunity-based mentorship study aims to understand adolescent girls' sexual health concerns within their dating relationships and to reduce their sexual health risk behaviours (e.g., having unprotected sex). It involves using a mentorship model for delivering a sexual health curriculum. The program also provides training and mentoring to youth, researchers, health practitioners and graduate students. The study uses a respectful and participatory approach based on principles of feminist ways of knowing.

Examples on initiatives that involve parents and caregivers in their children's school-based sexuality education program include:

The Family Project, which includes the Families Are Talking Web site and newsletter, is a project of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). This project began in 2000 to empower parents and caregivers to communicate with their children about sexuality-related issues, to provide tools to help families communicate about these issues, and to encourage parents, caregivers, and young people to become advocates on the local, state, and national levels for sexuality-related issues including comprehensive sexuality education programs in the schools.


The Family Project includes:

• http://www.familiesaretalking.org and http://www.lafamiliahabla.org
• Resources for parents, caregivers, and families including Families Are Talking, a quarterly newsletter in English and Spanish (available Winter 2002) and Innovative Approaches to Increase Parent-Child Communication about Sexuality: Their Impact and Examples from the Field
• The Family Communication Clearinghouse, part of the Mary S. Calderone Library, located at SIECUS' New York office
• An online database of innovative approaches to parent-child communication, including the 45 programs highlighted in the publication Innovative Approaches to Increase Parent-Child Communication about Sexuality: Their Impact and Examples from the Field. The following are excerpts from this publication:

Part 1:

• The Impact of Interventions Designed to Promote Parent-Child Communication about Sexuality
  • Recommendations for Parent-Child Communication Program Developers
  • Recommendations for Parent-Child Communication Program Evaluators

Part 2:

• Summary of Innovative Approaches and Examples from the Field
  • Suggestions for Recruiting and Retaining Parents/Caregivers
  • Recommendations for Policymakers

Additional links provided by the Family Project/SIECUS include: Check out these links for more information, research, and answers to your sexuality-related questions:

• Adolescence Directory OnLine http://education.indiana.edu/cas/adol/adol.html
  Provides educators, counselors, parents, researchers, health practitioners, and teens with information on adolescent issues. The site is developed by the Center for Adolescent Studies at Indiana University.
• Advocates for Youth http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/teens
  Creates programs and promotes policies which help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual and reproductive health. They provide information, training, and strategic assistance to youth-serving organizations, policy-makers, youth-activists, and the media in the United States and the developing world.
• Ask Beth http://www.ppsp.org/askbeth/askbeth.html
  Q & A Internet service that addresses sexuality and sexual-health issues. The site is developed by Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
• Campaign For Our Children http://www.cfoc.org
  Develops research-based prevention messages and abstinence educational media campaigns which encourage healthy, responsible sexual decisions among early-adolescent youth, promote a more informed support system for youth, and raise public awareness about adolescent preventative health issues.
• Coalition for Positive Sexuality http://www.positive.org
  Provides teens with sexuality and sexual health information and facilitates dialogue in and out of the public schools on condom availability and sex education.
• Go Ask Alice! http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu
  Q & A Internet service that addresses sexuality and health related issues. The site is developed by Columbia University's Health Education Program.
• Human Rights Campaign http://www.hrc.org
  The largest national gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy organization, envisions an America where GLBT people are ensured of their basic equal rights, and can be open, honest, and safe -- at home, at work, and in the community. HRC Foundations's FamilyNet is the most comprehensive and up-to-date resource on and for GLBT families.
• It's Your (Sex) Life http://www.itsyoursexlife.com
  Provides reliable, objective sexual health information to young adults. The site is developed by The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
• iwannaknow http://www.iwannaknow.org
  Answers questions about teen sexual health and sexually transmitted diseases. The site is developed by The American Social Health Association.
• Kids Health http://www.kidshealth.org
  Provides parents, kids, and adolescents with age-appropriate health and sexuality information. The site is developed by The Nemours Foundation's Center for Children's Health Media.
• My Voice Counts Youth Action Center http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/youth/index.htm
  Part of the Advocates for Youth website, provides information and resources to encourage young people to become activists for comprehensive sexuality education and sexual health. It includes national and international news stories about sexuality and sexual health, online petitions, listservs, organizing tools and resources, government and media contact information, stories and profiles of youth activists, and information about peer education.
• National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy http://www.teenpregnancy.org
  Aims to improve the well-being of children, youth, and families by reducing teen pregnancy.
• National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth
  Provides information about Add Health, a school-based study of the health-related behaviors of adolescents in grades seven to 12.
• New York Online Access to Health (NOAH) http://www.noah-health.org/
  Provides information from a variety of organizations that addresses sexuality, sexual heath, and other health-related topics. The site is developed by four New York City Library organizations.
• Resource Center for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (ReCAPP) http://www.etr.org/recapp
  Provides practical tools and information to effectively reduce teen sexual risk-taking behaviors. The site is developed by ETR Associates.
• Scarleteen.com http://www.scarleteen.com
  Provides sexuality and sexual health information to teens, supplementing the information that young people learn at home and in school-based programs.
• SEX, etc. http://www.sxetc.org
  Provides information by and for teens, on a variety of sexual health issues. The site is developed by the Network for Family Life Education.
• Taking with Kids About Tough Issues http://www.talkingwithkids.org
  Provides information to encourage parents and caregivers to talk with their children earlier and more often about tough issues like sex, HIV/AIDS, violence, alcohol, and drug abuse. The site is developed by Children Now and The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
• TeenHealthFX http://www.teenhealthfx.com
  Q & A Internet service for young people that addresses sexuality, sexual health, relationships, and other important issues. The site is a project funded by Atlantic Health System that includes Morristown Memorial Hospital, Overlook Hospital, and Mountainside Hospital.
• Teenwire http://www.teenwire.com
  Provides teens with sexuality and sexual health information. The site is developed by Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

From Yukon: Choices and Changesinvites parents and caregivers to become involved in their children's sexuality education by introducing them to the curriculum before it begins. It also encourages subsequent parent sessions such as video screenings, question-and-answer sessions, or group discussions based on the needs of parents in the community. Facilitated parent discussions can include activities related to values clarification and communicating with children about sexuality. An evaluation of the Choices and Changes program is published in the Winter 2000, SIECCAN Newsletter.1

Be Web Aware (Media Awareness Network): is a national, bilingual public education program on Internet safety from the Media Awareness Network. The objective of everyone involved in this project is to ensure young Canadians benefit from the Internet, while being safe and responsible in their online activities.” The primary target audience is parents, but the site contains information relevant to school contexts. Healthy sexuality is discussed as it relates to helping children and youth as they may discover online pornography.

Media Toolkit for Youth: Making Your Voice Heard: also from the Media Awareness Network is designed to help young people understand what drives the news industry, why youth stereotyping happens and how they can access the news media to make their voices and issues heard.