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Influence of School-Based Sexual Health Education on Sexual Behavior and Health Outcomes in the United States: An Analysis of Sexual Health Education in the United States with a Focused Comparison of the Sexual Health Education Curriculums

Description
Sexual health education varies in its delivery, efficacy, and comprehensiveness throughout each of the fifty states of the United States of America. These differences at the state level in the sexual health education curriculum lead to varying health outcomes for students during their time in school, as well as impact…

Sexual health education varies in its delivery, efficacy, and comprehensiveness throughout each of the fifty states of the United States of America. These differences at the state level in the sexual health education curriculum lead to varying health outcomes for students during their time in school, as well as impact their future experiences. This study examines the sexual health education curriculum of two states located with very different perspectives on how sexual health education should be taught, Arizona and New Jersey. This study analyzes the efficacy of curricula mandated by each state by looking at the average age of initial sexual encounter, the teen pregnancy rates, abortion rates, and cases of sexually transmitted infections. The goal of this study is to show the necessity for comprehensive sexual health education in order to reduce risky behavior in adolescents' sexual encounters, increase awareness surrounding an individual's health, and improving health outcomes for all individuals, from adolescence into adulthood.
ContributorsHassanzadeh, Neda (Author) / Popova, Laura (Thesis director) / Jacobs, Mark (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
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Building Resilience Through Creative Writing

Description
Resilience is defined as an individual's ability to cope or "bounce back" after experiencing stressful life events (Rew et al., 2001). Survivors of trauma who express high levels of resilience are more likely to experience positive future life outcomes than equally troubled peers with lower resilience scores. It is possible…

Resilience is defined as an individual's ability to cope or "bounce back" after experiencing stressful life events (Rew et al., 2001). Survivors of trauma who express high levels of resilience are more likely to experience positive future life outcomes than equally troubled peers with lower resilience scores. It is possible to increase resilience by targeting several core factors: (1) personal competence, (2) sense of belonging, (3) sense of optimism (Lee et al., 2009). I developed an eight-week creative writing curriculum to boost these three core factors in the hopes of both increasing resilience in homeless youth while also introducing creating writing as an effective coping strategy. Each one-hour session included free-form writing exercises, mindfulness practices, writing workshops, and group presentations. Prompts and activities were carefully developed to encourage resilience-building in a group of homeless children and adolescents of ages seven to fourteen at Homeward Bound in Phoenix. With sample writing works and facilitator feedback, this curriculum was designed to be exceptionally easy and cost effective for future implementation. I hope that other organizations in the future will consider implementing this program to help build resilience in youth who have experienced childhood trauma.
ContributorsPopeski, Cara (Author) / Popova, Laura (Thesis director) / Cavanaugh Toft, Carolyn (Committee member) / Pickhart, Kalani (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05