Impact of Life Skills Training to Improve Cognition on Risk of Sexual Behavior and Contraceptive Use among Vocational School Students in Shanghai, China

ObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of life skills training that uses participatory teaching method on improving reproductive health cognition of vocational school students of metropolitan, China.MethodsThree vocational schools of an urban district in Shanghai were selected as the research sites, with two schools as the intervention groups(group A and group B) and the other as the control(group C). Group A was provided life skills training with core of reproductive health plus peer education, while group B only provided life skills training. All the second grade students were recruited as the subjects. Baseline surveys were conducted in three schools before the implementation of the intervention, and similar surveys were conducted after two terms of the intervention to test the effectiveness of the intervention. In total, 1 612 subjects, including 810 males and 802 females, were recruited. The effects of the intervention on subjects' cognitions on sexual behavior and condom/contraceptive use were analyzed using mixed model with repeated measures.ResultsFrom pretest to posttest, there were significant increase of the proportions of perceiving risks in getting pregnant, infecting STDs and HIV, benefits by learning and using condom, and self-efficacy in contraceptive use, and decrease of the proportions of perceiving barriers for condom use in two intervention groups; while few similar changes in the control group. In mixed modeling analysis, interaction effects of group A × time and group B × time were found on the scores of perceived risks (P<0.000 1), perceived benefits (P<0.000 1), perceived barriers (P=0.001 2 for group A and P=0.003 4 for group B), and perceived self-efficacy (P<0.000 1). The significant difference of the effects between two interventions was only observed on perceived benefits (P<0.000 1).ConclusionLife skills training using participatory approaches is effective in improving students' reproductive health cognition and could be used as an important method in educating young people about sex-related issues.