O3287: Sex Ed by Brown Med: The Impact of COVID-19 on Middle Schoolers’ Sexual Health Education

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted education systems and learning, leading to unprecedented challenges for both students and educators. Among these challenges, a notable decline in students’ attitudes and beliefs towards school-related topics has emerged as a critical area of concern, particularly for middle school students navigating crucial and foundational subjects such as sexual education. Studies have shown that students’ beliefs about sexual health topics were negatively impacted by the pandemic, leading to reduced openness and engagement with the material, likely due to interruptions in educational routine and access to supportive resources. Negative beliefs about sexual health topics can have profound implications, as sexual education has been shown not only to provide students with the ability to make informed and safe decisions about relationships, sexual activity and reproductive health, but to provide significant health benefits in terms of reducing the risk of adolescent pregnancy, HIV and sexually transmitted infections. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of a sexual health education curriculum taught by medical student volunteers on seventh graders’ knowledge and beliefs about sexual health before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim is to provide valuable insight into the broader impact of the pandemic on students’ perceptions of essential learning.

Methods: Seventh-grade students participated in an eight-lesson sexual education program during the 2018-2019 and 2023-2024 school years. Pre- and post-program questionnaires were administered to students to assess knowledge across five domains (Communication and Consent, Sexual Health Decision Making & Safe Sex Practices, Healthy Relationships, Puberty and Reproductive Health and Gender Identity & Sexual Orientation) as well as students’ beliefs on these topics (Table 1).

Results: Across both cohorts, students demonstrated a statistically significant increase in overall sexual health knowledge. Before the pandemic (2018-2019), participation in the program also led to significantly improved beliefs around sexual health practices. However, post-pandemic (2023-2024), students’ beliefs did not show change following the curriculum (Table 2).

Conclusion: These findings align with existing literature highlighting post-pandemic shifts in student engagement and learning. While students continue to effectively acquire factual knowledge from the sexual education curriculum, the curriculum’s diminished influence on beliefs emphasizes the challenges of fostering behavioral change in the current educational climate. It is critical to address this gap: belief shifts are essential for translating knowledge into informed decision making. The results suggest the need for curriculum enhancements to ensure that our program not only informs but also empowers students to apply knowledge to real-life decision making.