Effect of social media model to improve sexual health literacy among secondary school female students in southern provinces, Thailand: a quasi experimental study

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Adolescent pregnancy is one of major public health issues globally and in Thailand. Female adolescents are at high risk of sexual and reproductive health problems like unintended pregnancies, abortion, childbirth related complications including sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and AIDS due to poor sexual health literacy (SHL). Sexual health literacy (SHL) is one of very important factors to prevent teenage pregnancy. The aim was to examine the effect of social media model to improve sexual health literacy among secondary school female students in southern provinces of Thailand.

Method: This study employed a quasi-experimental research design using two groups the intervention and the control groups. The total number of 128 participants were participated in the study. 64 participants were placed in the intervention group and the control group equally. The study ran for 24-week with 4 serial measurements (0, 8, 16, 24 weeks of intervention). The intervention group received health education through social media model to improve sexual health literacy, while the control group attended regular school classes only and received neither social media model on sexual literacy. The sexual health literacy questionnaire composed of four elements including 1) accessing information, 2) understanding information, 3) appraising information and 4) applying/practicing. A self-administered questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation (SD) were used to describe the socio-demographic characteristics; pair t-test, independent t-test, and One-Way ANOVA Repeated Measurement were used for data analysis.

Result: The baseline characteristics of both groups were similar. After the intervention program, the mean scores of both groups started to change in the week 8, 16 and 24. The mean scores of participants in the intervention groups had increased from the week 8, 16 and 24 respectively with statistically significant at the .05 level (F = 489.82, p = 0.00), while the mean scores of participants in the control group did not change much with statistically significant at the .05 level (F = 10.72, p = 0.00). In term of level of sexual health literacy, the scores among female students in the intervention group were sufficient (76.56%), whereas the scores of female students in the control group were inadequate (100%). After the intervention program, the scores in the intervention group showed higher level distribution of the sexual health literacy scores more than the control group.

Conclusion: Social media model has improved sexual health literacy (SHL) among secondary school female students.