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.


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.
Campero
Lourdes
L
Division of Reproductive Health, Centre for Research on Population Health, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, México. Ave. Universidad 655, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México.
Walker
Dilys
D
Atienzo
Erika E
EE
Gutierrez
Juan Pablo
JP
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D003075:Coitus; D003142:Communication; D017280:Condoms; D044363:Contraception, Postcoital; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012736:Sex Education; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires