The Effect of Web Based Reproductive Health Education on Sexual Myths and Risky Behaviors in University Students

April 12, 2022 updated by: Güzin Ünlü, Istanbul University - Cerrahpasa (IUC)

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines the concept of reproductive health as "not only the absence of disease or disability, but a state of complete physical, mental and social welfare in all matters related to the reproductive system, functions and processes". However, it also emphasizes that people have free will in the timing of having a satisfying and safe sexual life and using their reproductive abilities.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights are essential for the health and survival of people, economic development and prosperity. In the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the third article named "Health and Quality Life" includes the targets covering reproductive health and sexual health. Some of these goals are; universal access to sexual and reproductive health services, creation of national education and information strategies for reproductive health, preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs), access to information about family planning, and reducing maternal and neonatal mortality. People can lead a complete healthy and quality life only when these goals are achieved.

It is observed that the knowledge of men and women about general reproductive health and the organs and functions of the female and male reproductive systems is significantly lacking. In addition to these, it has been reported that they have insufficient knowledge on other issues such as sexual health, STIs and family planning methods. There are studies showing that lack of knowledge brings about reproductive health problems in young individuals. Problems such as exposure to STIs, early pregnancy, and risky sexual behaviors arise due to lack of information. Since all these health problems can cause permanent damage, the individual's future reproductive health is also at risk. However, it is possible to come across studies showing that reproductive health education is a tool to prevent these adverse health conditions. In a study conducted with university students, even if students' basic sexual education knowledge levels were good; It has been reported that there is a positive relationship between receiving sexual education and protective sexual behaviors, knowledge, motivation and skills. At the same time, it has been reported in many studies that believing in sexual myths, which are considered as false beliefs and have no scientific value, is more common in students with high levels of knowledge. While sexual myths cause behavioral changes with believed mistakes, sexual dysfunctions, decrease in sexual satisfaction and negative attitude towards contraceptive methods can also be brought about. Considering that people who know more about sexually transmitted HIV/AIDS have a low rate of believing in myths, an important reproductive health problem such as STI should be considered to be related to myths.

In this context, training on reproductive health and sexual health is important. Preparation and implementation of trainings on reproductive and sexual health by health professionals; It is important as it is known that young people have access to conflicting or incorrect information from various sources. Therefore, health professionals should be involved in these training processes. While planning the trainings, many platforms can be used, and nowadays, web-based trainings increase their importance with the introduction of the internet in all areas of our lives. The biggest advantages of web-based education are that it can be accessed anytime, anywhere and by anyone. In various studies conducted with university students, it is seen that web-based education increases the level of knowledge and is effective in behavior change.

In this period when technological education emerged, many instructional design models developed were used in web-based education. Among these models, the most widely used ADDIE model. ADDIE is a model that provides a systematic and comprehensive definition and implementation of design principles. The web-based training in the research will be given based on the ADDIE Model approach. Basic elements of the instructional design process in the model; It is in the form of Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation. The use of a model in web-designed education ensures that the educational content is prepared according to the needs, the training steps are not skipped and systematic.

In the literature review and web researches, a web-based education was not encountered in national and international publications where university students could reach the correct and scientific information about reproductive health. In this context, the investigators believe that web-based education to be provided with the ADDIE Model approach will reduce the sexual myths and risky behaviors that young people believe.

This study was planned to examine the effect of web-based reproductive health education given to university students on belief in sexual myths and risky behaviors.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

96

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey
      • İstanbul, Turkey
        • Güzin Ünlü

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 24 years (ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Being a first year undergraduate / associate degree student
  • Not taking any anatomy or women's health classes
  • Volunteering to participate in research
  • Being in the age range of 18-24

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Voluntarily leaving the research
  • Not attending the trainings given in the experimental group

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: OTHER
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: SINGLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Training Group
Other: Education
With the training module prepared according to the ADDIE model, the intervention group will be trained on reproductive health and sexual health.
NO_INTERVENTION: Control Group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Personal Information Form
Time Frame: Baseline (To both groups before the intervention)
This form, which was prepared by the researchers by scanning the literature, in order to describe the sociodemographic and reproductive health information of the students participating in the study, and the platforms / individuals from which this information was obtained, consists of 20 questions.
Baseline (To both groups before the intervention)
Sexual Myths Scale
Time Frame: Change in believing sexual myths at Baseline and 5 weeks of education)

It is a scale developed to describe sexual myths scale by Gölbaşı et al. in 2016. The scale consists of 8 sub-dimensions and 28 items that allow the multidimensional evaluation of sexual myths.

Sub Dimensions and Item Numbers; Sexual orientation: 1-5. Articles, Gender: 6-11. Substances, Age and sexuality: 12-15. Substances, Sexual behavior: 16-18. Substances, Masturbation: 19-20. Sexual violence: 21-24. Substances, Sexual intercourse: 25-26. Substances, Sexual Satisfaction: 27-28. Substances. Each item of the scale is evaluated on a 5-point: "Never agree" = 1, "Disagree" = 2, "Undecided" = 3, "Partially Agree" = 4, "Strongly Agree" = 5. The total score for the scale is obtained by adding the scores given to each item. The minimum score obtained from the scale is 28 and the maximum score is 140. The scale does not have a cut-off point. The higher the score, the higher the sexual myths.
Change in believing sexual myths at Baseline and 5 weeks of education)
Information and Risky Behavior Form Specific to Reproductive Health Education
Time Frame: Change in risky behavior at Baseline and 5 weeks of education)
It is a form consisting of 47 questions created after the literature review. Contains; male and female anatomy and physiology, regulation of fertility, sexually transmitted infections and risky behaviors related to these issues. The items in the form consist of true and false statements that evaluate students' knowledge and attitudes about risky behaviors in the educational content. The questions in each item will be answered as "True, False, No Idea". The questions in the form will be submitted for expert opinion. A pre-test will be conducted to detect the presence of incomprehensible expressions. The score of the form will be calculated by giving 1 point to each correct answer and the highest score will be 47.
Change in risky behavior at Baseline and 5 weeks of education)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Istanbul University - Cerrahpasa (IUC)

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

March 8, 2021

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

October 31, 2021

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

October 31, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 28, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 7, 2020

First Posted (ACTUAL)

October 8, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

April 20, 2022

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 12, 2022

Last Verified

April 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 58797649-050-

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Health Risk Behaviors

Clinical Trials on Education

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Australia

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe