Promoting responsible sexual behavior through a college freshman seminar.

A sexual health curriculum has been incorporated into our university's freshman seminar. The effectiveness of this program in changing sexuality-related knowledge, attitude, and behavior in college freshmen was studied. Seven hundred eighty-six freshmen students enrolled in 37 randomly selected English classes were surveyed at baseline and at 3 months. Survey outcome measurements included: knowledge regarding sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), attitudes about sexual behavior, and behaviors including the frequency of barrier contraceptive use, abstinence, and the number of sexual partners. At postintervention, mean knowledge, attitude, and behavior scores were significantly higher for those simultaneously enrolled in the freshman seminar than for those not enrolled. Abstinence among males in the seminar increased. White males in the seminar were more likely to be abstinent or to use a condom than nonwhites. Females not participating in the intervention reported increased frequency of "never" using condoms and decreased frequency of condom use at last intercourse. Students participating in a sexual health curriculum in a college freshman seminar report less frequent high-risk sexual behaviors than students not participating in the seminar.

PIP: Away from direct parental control and the influence of former school classmates and peers, bursting with hormones, and congregated with hordes of adolescents in similar condition, most college freshmen are bound to have sex. In so doing, they may be at risk of having unwanted pregnancies and/or contracting HIV and others sexually transmitted diseases. In an attempt to present information on sexuality to such youths, while focusing upon personal and social responsibility in the sexual realm, the staff of the student health center at the University of South Carolina developed a sexual health curriculum incorporated into the university's freshman seminar which has been in place for two years and reaches 1200-1500 students annually. The authors surveyed 786 freshmen students enrolled in 37 randomly selected English classes at baseline and at three months to assess the effectiveness of the program in changing the sexuality-related knowledge, attitude, and behavior of participants. 59% English class students were also in the seminar at baseline; 582 remained at post-intervention. 56% of respondents were female. Survey outcome measurements included knowledge regarding sexually transmitted diseases, attitudes about sexual behavior, and behaviors including the frequency of condom use, abstinence, and the number of sex partners. Significantly higher mean knowledge, attitude, and behavior scores were found at post-intervention for those simultaneously enrolled in the freshman seminar than for those not enrolled. Abstinence among males in the seminar increased, with white males more likely than nonwhites to be abstinent or to use a condom. Females not participating in the intervention, however, reported an increased frequency of never using condoms and a decreased frequency of condom use at last intercourse.

Reduction in sexual risk behaviors among college students following a comprehensive health education intervention.

Sexually active college students are at risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection. As a result, health education initiatives to prevent these infections are commonplace, but few controlled research studies have evaluated behavioral changes as a result of on-campus sex education. In a nonrandomized control trial, sexual risk behaviors of 341 students who had received a comprehensive health education intervention in a first-year seminar were compared with 227 students who were not enrolled in the seminar. The seminar curriculum included an intervention addressing facts about sexually transmitted diseases, safer sex, values, decision making, and assertiveness skills. Sexual abstinence (no sexual intercourse), number of sexual partners, consistent condom use, and methods of contraception were assessed at baseline and after 3 months. Compared with students who had not received the intervention, men in the seminar reported increased sexual abstinence but no change in consistent condom use; the women in the intervention group reported no change in sexual abstinence but an increase in consistent condom use. Women who had not received the intervention reported never using a condom more frequently than women who had received the intervention. The health education intervention on a college campus was associated with short-term reduction in sexual risk behaviors, but the reduction varied according to the students' gender.