Year of Publication

2023

College

Nursing

Department/School/Program

Nursing

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Faculty Advisor

Hartley Feld

Abstract

Legislation surrounding sexual education, comprehensive sexual education in particular, has always been a point of controversy. Recently however, this controversy has been brought to the forefront of political debates and media coverage. With sexual education, and the repercussions of a lack thereof, being such a timely issue, this thesis project will explore the current written literature to create an evidence-based presentation to educate future nurses on the issue and their role in promoting the implementation of comprehensive education in schools and providing it in the clinical setting. Comprehensive sex education is medically accurate, age appropriate, evidence based, and LGBTQIA+ inclusive, and goes beyond just discussing sex to include information on healthy relationships, violence prevention, internet safety, contraception, and anatomy. Current Kentucky legislation does not require sex education to be comprehensive and heavily focuses on abstinence as the desired goal (An Act Relating to Health Education, 2018).

The state of Kentucky is a leading state for issues such as teen pregnancy (CDC, 2022) which disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities as well as those in more rural populations across the US (Hamilton, Rossen, & Branum, 2016). Kentucky also experiences high incidences of domestic violence, ranking consistently within the top 10 highest rates for men and women by state (Simon et al., 2017). Comprehensive sex education provides the opportunity to make an impact on this, as it goes beyond sex to include information on safety and fundamentals of healthy relationships as well. This thesis will investigate the potential impact of comprehensive sexual health curriculums on these themes. It also will examine data relevant to other marginalized groups such as racial and ethnic minorities and those living in rural communities.

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