Mock sexual health clinics for school pupils

Health Education - 1997
PatJackson1, ZoePlant2
1School Nurse Co‐ordinator at Optimum Health Services (NHS) Trust, London, UK and Lecturer NESCOT, Epson College of Further and Higher Education
2Nurse Manager, Family Planning and Reproductive Healthcare at Optimum Health Services (NHS) Trust, London, UK

Tóm tắt

Gives an account of a project run by Optimum Health Services NHS Trust offering attendance at mock sexual health clinics to young people attending schools in Lewisham and Southwark in South London. The mock clinics were set up after the authors visited Sweden on a study tour and observed similar projects in operation there. The principal aim of the mock sexual health clinics was to increase the access of family planning clinics to young people. The pilot project involved about 300 pupils from four schools, ranging from year 10 to year 12. Feedback from pupils showed that they enjoyed attending a clinic away from the school environment, learning how the clinic operated and about the issue of confidentiality, including separate record keeping by the clinic and general practitioners’ surgeries. The main problem identified was that one hour in length sessions were too short. Suggests that it could be useful to offer attendance at mock sexual health clinics for both teachers, as part of INSET training, and parents, particularly parents of pupils with learning disabilities. Emphasizes that all staff involved needed to work within the framework of each school’s sex education policy and existing legislation. Concludes that education and health services need to work in collaboration to ensure that sex education and sexual health services for young people are developed in conjunction with each other, as either one on its own is not sufficient.

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Tài liệu tham khảo

1Jackson, P. and Plant, Z., “Youngsters get an introduction to sexual health clinics”, Nursing Times, Vol. 92 No. 21, pp. 34‐6.

2Toft, M., Jackson, P., Plant, Z. and Miller, J., “Sexual health education ‐ intervention in schools”, Colleges and Youth Settings, Optimum Health Services (NHS) Trust, unpublished, 1994.

3Jacobson, B.et al., The Nation’s Health: A Strategy for the 1990s, Kings Fund, London, 1991, p. 200.

4Bygdeman, M. and Lindahl, K., Sex Education and Reproductive Health: Sweden in the 20th Century, Swedish Institute, Stockholm, 1990.

5The Swedish Association for Sex Education, Vision Reality Activities, RFSU, Stockholm, 1990.

6Department for Education, Education Act 1993 Sex Education in Schools, Cir.5/94, HMSO, London, 1994..

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