title: Short-term effects of a rights-based sexuality education curriculum for high-school students: a cluster-randomized trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  An emerging model for sexuality education is the rights-based approach, which unifies discussions of sexuality, gender norms, and sexual rights to promote the healthy sexual development of adolescents. A rigorous evaluation of a rights-based intervention for a broad population of adolescents in the U.S. has not previously been published. This paper evaluates the immediate effects of the Sexuality Education Initiative (SEI) on hypothesized psychosocial determinants of sexual behavior.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cluster-randomized trial was conducted with ninth-grade students at 10 high schools in Los Angeles. Classrooms at each school were randomized to receive either a rights-based curriculum or basic sex education (control) curriculum. Surveys were completed by 1,750 students (N = 934 intervention, N = 816 control) at pretest and immediate posttest. Multilevel regression models examined the short-term effects of the intervention on nine psychosocial outcomes, which were hypothesized to be mediators of students' sexual behaviors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with students who received the control curriculum, students receiving the rights-based curriculum demonstrated significantly greater knowledge about sexual health and sexual health services, more positive attitudes about sexual relationship rights, greater communication about sex and relationships with parents, and greater self-efficacy to manage risky situations at immediate posttest. There were no significant differences between the two groups for two outcomes, communication with sexual partners and intentions to use condoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Participation in the rights-based classroom curriculum resulted in positive, statistically significant effects on seven of nine psychosocial outcomes, relative to a basic sex education curriculum. Longer-term effects on students' sexual behaviors will be tested in subsequent analyses.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02009046.
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development, Public Health Institute, 555 12th Street, 10th Floor, 94607, Oakland, CA, USA. nconstantine@berkeley.edu.|Division of Community Health and Human Development, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 50 University Hall, 94720, Berkeley, CA, USA. nconstantine@berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: Norman A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Constantine
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development, Public Health Institute, 555 12th Street, 10th Floor, 94607, Oakland, CA, USA. pjerman.phi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jerman
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development, Public Health Institute, 555 12th Street, 10th Floor, 94607, Oakland, CA, USA. nberglas.phi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Nancy F
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Berglas
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development, Public Health Institute, 555 12th Street, 10th Floor, 94607, Oakland, CA, USA. francisca.olaiz@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Francisca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Angulo-Olaiz
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 2001 N. Soto Street, 90032, Los Angeles, CA, USA. cchou@usc.edu.
authors.forename: Chih-Ping
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 2001 N. Soto Street, 90032, Los Angeles, CA, USA. rohrbac@usc.edu.
authors.forename: Louise A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Rohrbach
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003142:Communication; D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D015141:Los Angeles; D008297:Male; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012736:Sex Education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D019529:Sexuality; D014481:United States