A quasi-experimental evaluation of parents as sexual health educators resulting in delayed sexual initiation and increased access to condoms

Objective

To evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention for parents of first year high school students in the State of Morelos, Mexico, whose aim was to impact adolescents’ sexual behavior, knowledge and access to contraception.

Material and methods

Quasi-experimental prospective study with eleven control and eleven intervention schools using self-administered questionnaires for parents and adolescents pre- and post-intervention. Parent-child dyads in the control and intervention schools were matched according to parents’ propensity score; the average treatment effect (ATE) was estimated for adolescent’s outcome variables.

Results

At follow-up, we found significant differences for adolescents in the intervention schools: 6.8% delayed initiation of sexual intercourse, 14.4% had correct knowledge about emergency contraception (EC), and 164% reported having received condoms from their parents, when comparing with students in control schools.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that parent-focused interventions could be an innovative and effective strategy to promote adolescents sexual health.