Sex Education in the Community

Community health awareness and promotion programs have, for a long time, been used to ensure a healthy population. Some rural states in America restrict comprehensive sex education and instead support abstinence-only teaching in schools with disagreements mainly arising from the content of this curriculum (Secor-Turner et al., 2017).

Despite lacking substantial support, the WHO holds that gaining information and knowledge through this education ensures that an individual is healthy sexually (Thomas & Aggleton, 2016). Sexual health and awareness is essential for any community and was identified as necessary for the Homestead community. The purpose of this paper is to outline the procedures for introducing sex education as an intervention in Homestead community using the MAP-IT framework developed by Healthy people 2020.

Mobilize

Mobilizing is the first step in the MAP-IT framework. It involves bringing together of persons, groups, or organizations that are concerned about the health of the community (‘Program Planning’, 2019). In Homestead, parties that could assist in delivering sex education include social agencies, schools, and health care practitioners. The social agencies include Phicol William and William F. Dickson community centers and Miami-Dade County human services.

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Schools are critical centers for teaching sex education to the children and adolescents, although no consensus has been arrived at regarding this curriculum in schools (Hall et al., 2016). Schools identified include seventh Adventist elementary school and West Homestead elementary school. The health providers who can be mobilized include the clinicians, physicians, and dentist in the area.

Assess

Assessing involves identifying the weaknesses in the community and areas of greatest needs. Additionally, the strengths of the population are identified, as well as the resources available (‘Program Planning’, 2019). Assessment of the Homestead community presented the region as a working-class community. A significant number of residents are in search of employment while others maintain their households with low waged jobs.

The working families include teenagers getting work to support their families. This working condition results in parents spending less time with their children who could give them more freedom and time to engage in sexual activities. The area also has parks and recreational facilities, some of which are open to the public from sunset to sunrise.

Plan

Introduction of this intervention will give the young people opportunities to explore and identify with sexuality and relationships and at the same time, develop values, beliefs, and attitudes concerning sexuality (Thomas & Aggleton, 2016). Planning for this intervention will involve identifying the expected outcome. The vision is molding a young generation with the skills and knowledge necessary for them to make decisions regarding sexuality and reducing the rates of teenage pregnancies, abortions, and STIs. The primary approach to be used in the Homestead community is the use of seminars to teach the community about sex. The first action step is picking the centers to be used for the seminars which are the identified schools and social agencies’ offices as well as healthcare centers. The final step will be to teach the community.

Implement

It is necessary to ensure that each step of the plan can be monitored before implementation. Implementing the plan involves applying each action step (‘Program Planning’, 2019). Challenges continuously face sex education, and hence, the implementation process may face objection from the community (Hall et al., 2016). The Phicol William and William F. Dickson community centers and Miami-Dade County human services offices will be used for this plan. Additionally, the seventh Adventist and West Homestead elementary schools will be the centers for holding seminars to address the children.

Track

Tracking involves monitoring the progress of the intervention. Each plan implemented to assess if it achieves the objectives of the intervention. Monitoring also allows identification of other community needs and improvements required for the process (‘Program Planning’, 2019). Keeping track can be done through recording either manually or electronically when possible.

Assessing the success of sex education can be difficult. However, a statistical analysis such as individuals reached or educated per month can be valuable in achieving this. Furthermore, statistics regarding sexual health and instances of teenage pregnancies health can be used to evaluate the process.

Conclusion

The MAP-IT strategy is a valuable tool for promoting public health through interventions. The Homestead community requires sex education because no programs or institutions are offering this knowledge and skills. Sex education allows an individual to limit the possibility of poor sexual health through the decisions that they make. The use of social agencies and schools ensures that programs can reach all individuals in society. As sex education continues to face differing perceptions, sexual health remains an integral part of community health, which should be improved.

References

1. Hall, K. S., Sales, J. M., Komro, K. A., & Santelli, J. (2016). The state of sex education in the United States. The Journal of Adolescent Health: Official Publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 58(6), 595. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.03.032
2. Program Planning | Healthy People 2020. (2019). Healthy People. Retrieved 30 May 2019, from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/tools-and-resources/Program-Planning
3. Secor-Turner, M., Randall, B. A., Christensen, K., Jacobson, A., & Loyola Meléndez, M. (2017). Implementing community-based comprehensive sexuality education with high-risk youth in a conservative environment: lessons learned. Sex Education, 17(5), 544-554. doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2017.1318273
4. Thomas, F., & Aggleton, P. (2016). School-based sex and relationships education: Current knowledge and emerging themes. In Global perspectives and key debates in sex and relationships education: Addressing issues of gender, sexuality, plurality and power (pp. 13-29). Palgrave Pivot, London.