Professional Development on Sexual Health Education Is Associated With Coverage of Sexual Health Topics

Background: Sexual health education plays a vital role in preventing adverse consequences of sexual behavior. Data are limited on how professional development (PD) for teachers is associated with teaching sexual health content.

Method: We used data from the 2014 School Health Policies and Practices Study, a cross-sectional survey that included a nationally representative sample of middle and high school health education courses (n = 328; 96.2% of those sampled). We examined whether teacher characteristics and receipt of PD on four sexual health domains (human sexuality and the prevention of pregnancy, HIV, and sexually transmitted diseases) were associated with teaching those four domains and whether PD was associated with teaching specific topics within each domain. In a second set of analyses, we compared the difference in coverage of specific topics by receipt of PD among only the teachers who reported teaching the domain.

Results: The prevalence of teaching sexual health content was higher among courses in which teachers had a degree in health education or were certified to teach health education. A robust relationship between teachers' receipt of PD and the teaching of nearly all sexual health topics as well as an increase in the mean number of topics taught and the time devoted to the domain was demonstrated.

Conclusions: PD has a positive impact on the coverage of sexual health topics among middle and high school courses. These data suggest a need for more PD on sexual health education content to ensure that sexual health topics are taught in the classroom.