Sexual Maturation, Attitudes towards Sexual Maturity, and Body Esteem in Elementary-School Children

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate sexual maturation, attitudes toward sexual maturity, and body esteem in the sexual development of Korean elementary-school boys and girls. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 399 fifth and sixth graders (192 boys and 207 girls). The data were analysed with a χ2 test, t-test, and Pearson correlation coefficients. RESULTS: Among the 207 girls, 70.5% had pubic hair growth, 68.1% had breast development, and 56.0% had a menstrual period. In boys, 59.4% of the 192 subjects experienced the development of external genitalia and 52.6% had pubic hair growth. Sexual maturation was related to grade (boys, t=7.07, p=.008; girls, t=12.76, p < .001), age (t=−2.20, p=.030; t=−4.11, p < .001), height (t=−5.16, p < .001; t=−7.52, p < .001), and weight (t=−2.89, p=.004; t=−5.19, p < .001) in both boys and girls. Girls were more likely to have sexual maturity than boys (χ2=22.29, p < .001). Boys showed more positive attitudes toward sexual maturity (t=2.10, p=.036) and higher body esteem (t=2.12, p=.035) than girls. CONCLUSION: This study shows that sexual maturation, attitude toward sexual maturity, and body esteem in sexual development differ between boys and girls. The findings indicate that it is necessary to develop a tailored sex-education program according to the sex of elementary-school children.

Class Experience of the Students on 『Pregnancy, Delivery and Puerperium』 Nursing Course through Flipped Learning: Mixed Method Research

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the applicability of a flipped learning course in Women's Health Nursing for nursing students. METHODS: A total of 200 senior nursing students participated in flipped learning class of pregnancy, delivery and postpartum area, which included team-based learning and self-reflection for 8 weeks. One group pre-post test design was adopted and the changes in learning motivation and satisfaction were examined. In addition, reflective journals of the students were analyzed by making a qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Students showed a significant increase in score of learning motivation in the posttest (t=-4.47, p<.001). They had a mean of 3.90 in learning satisfaction out of possible five points. As a result of content analysis, three themes were selected: ‘Improved attitude toward active learning’, ‘Burden caused by excessive workload’, and ‘Valuing to the team-based activity’ To be specific, six sub-themes were selected, with three positive and three negative categories: ‘improved class attention and understanding’, ‘positive class participation by preparing lessons in advance’, ‘peer interactions through discussion’, ‘A lot of time and effort consuming’, ‘stress caused by the burden of preparing lessons’, and ‘difficulties in cooperative activities’. CONCLUSION: This study supports and confirms that the flipped learning can be a creative instructional model of positive teaching-learning strategy in clinical nursing courses to enhance students' learning motivation.