Student-Initiated Sexual Health Selective as a Curricular Tool

Patients' sexual health functioning is important for physicians in all fields of medicine to consider; however, this topic is lacking from almost half of U.S. medical school curricula.

This study aims to develop, implement, and assess the feasibility of a preliminary sexual health curriculum for medical students.

This Sexual Health Selective (SHS) was developed and implemented by a student and faculty champion for first year medical students. Its design incorporated a number of the guiding principles and recommendations from the 2012 Summit on Medical School Education in Sexual Health.

Feasibility was measured by limited-efficacy testing and participant acceptability of the SHS. Limited-efficacy testing was accomplished by conducting descriptive comparisons of responses to a sexual health attitudes and knowledge survey. These responses were compared between (i) participants vs. nonparticipants prior to the SHS, (ii) participants immediately after vs. participants prior to the SHS, (iii) participants 3 months after vs. participants prior to the SHS, and (iv) participants 3 months after vs. participants immediately after the SHS. Participant acceptability was assessed by asking qualitatively and quantitatively whether students enjoyed the SHS, found it beneficial to their learning, and would recommend it to their classmates.

Immediately after the SHS and 3 months later, participants reported increased comfort and open-mindedness in their attitudes toward sexual health and demonstrated an increase in accurate knowledge about sexual health issues compared with baseline. Objective follow-up also revealed that most participants enjoyed the SHS, found it beneficial to their learning, and would recommend it to their classmates.

The 1-week SHS was successfully implemented through the teamwork of a medical student and faculty champion. It resulted in more accurate knowledge and more open attitudes toward sexual health among participating medical students. Potential benefits to undergraduate medical educators are reviewed.