Follow-up effects of a medical school course in human sexuality

The effects of a course in human sexuality for a class of second-year male medical students are described. The course consists of two interacting components: a 2-day seminar and a 2-week didactic presentation. The purpose of the seminar is to develop humanistic understanding and tolerance of one's own and others' sexuality. The didactic presentation focuses on factual information. A variety of evaluation instruments were used, and students were tested precourse, postcourse, and at the end of 6 and 12 months. Results show a significant pre-post increase in tolerance in attitude and amount of knowledge. There appears to be some moderation in level of attitude and knowledge gain at the 6-months point, and significant increases from the precourse level to the 12-months point persist. Participants almost uniformly report personal benefit, with a significant number described greater satisfaction in their own sexual behaviour.