title: Barriers to providing the sexuality education that teachers believe students need.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sexuality education teachers' perspectives are important to gain a full understanding of the issues surrounding teaching this subject. This study uses a statewide sample of public school teachers to examine what sexuality education content is taught, what barriers teachers face, and which barriers are associated with teaching specific topics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants included 368 middle and high school teachers with sexuality education assignments in Minnesota. Survey data included topics they teach, what they think they should teach, and barriers they face. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between barriers and teaching each of 9 sexual health topics, among those who believed the topic should be taught.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Almost two thirds of participants faced structural barriers; 45% were concerned about parent, student, or administrator response; and one quarter reported restrictive policies. Structural barriers were inversely associated with teaching about communication (OR = 0.20), teen parenting (OR = 0.34), and abortion (OR = 0.32); concerns about responses were associated only with teaching about sexual violence (OR = 0.42); and restrictive policies were inversely associated with teaching about abortion (OR = 0.23) and sexual orientation (OR = 0.47).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Addressing teachers' barriers requires a multipronged approach, including curriculum development and evaluation, training, and reframing the policy debate to support a wider range of sexuality education topics.
authors.affiliation: Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, 717 Delaware St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. eisen012@umn.edu
authors.forename: Marla E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Eisenberg
authors.forename: Nikki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Madsen
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Oliphant
authors.forename: Renee E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Sieving
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008910:Minnesota; D020380:Needs Assessment; D012736:Sex Education; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires