Abstract
AB046. Sexuality 360@ School: an ecosystem approach to comprehensive sexuality education in Hong Kong
Neda Ng1, Edmond Pui Hang Choi2, Ellie Bostwick Andres3, Alice Wai Chi Fung4, Kevin Wing Chung Lau4, Monique Yeung1
1Community Services, Mother’s Choice, Hong Kong, China;
2School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China;
3School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China;
4Youth Services, Mother’s Choice, Hong Kong, China
Correspondence to: Neda Ng. Community Services, Mother’s Choice, Hong Kong, China. Email: nedang@motherschoice.org.
Background: The number of teen pregnancies in Hong Kong is unknown. According to Hong Kong census data along with pregnancy termination data from Hospital Authority and the Family Planning Association, it is estimated that approximately 5,000 girls aged 15–24 face crisis pregnancies each year. Among sexually active adolescents in Hong Kong, 44 percent report inconsistent use of contraceptives and 11% report no use of contraceptives [Lau, M.W., 2016, June 8. #LetsTalkAboutIt - Sexuality education in Hong Kong. (Web log post). Ming Wai Lau. Retrieved from http://hello.mingwailau.hk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Sex-Ed-Report-FINAL-CLEAN.pdf]. The study purpose is to develop a comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) program for Hong Kong adolescents.
Methods: Adapting the WHO Health Promoting School approach, Mother’s Choice developed a CSE ecosystem program to empower adolescents and key adults in their support networks (i.e., school and family) with the sexual health knowledge, attitudes, skills and connection to motivate healthy sexual decision-making.
Results: We developed a four-year CSE curriculum for Hong Kong secondary school youth (Form 1–Form 4) along with training programs for teachers and parents. The curriculum adapts best practices from International Technical Guidance from UNESCO and National Sexuality Education Standards (USA) that is suitable for Hong Kong’s context. In our initial testing of the program with secondary students, we found that both teachers and students responded positively to our program and students generally found our program useful.
Conclusions: Going forward, we hope to test the CSE curriculum in more schools and refine the program as needed to empower healthy sexual decision making among Hong Kong adolescents.
Keywords: Adolescents; sexual health; teenage pregnancy; comprehensive sexuality education; health promoting school; health ecological model
Acknowledgments
Funding: This project was supported by the Health Care and Promotion Scheme Project No. 02180538 under the Health and Medical Research Fund, which is administered by the Food and Health Bureau of Hong Kong.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the noncommercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
doi: 10.21037/jphe-21-ab046
Cite this abstract as: Ng N, Choi EPH, Andres EB, Fung AWC, Lau KWC, Yeung M. AB046. Sexuality 360@ School: an ecosystem approach to comprehensive sexuality education in Hong Kong. J Public Health Emerg 2021;5:AB046.
