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Sex Ed North waits on grant Project's second phase is scheduled to focus on sex education for indigenous youth
Lyndsay Herman
Northern News Services
Published Monday, August 5, 2013
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Let's talk about sex education.
That's a conversation two researchers started with youth in Behchoko and Yellowknife last summer through Sex Ed North, and if funding comes through at the end of the month, the question of what youth and adults want from sex education will spread to all Tlicho communities as well.
Erin Selleck-Chocolate models a Sex Ed North trucker hat designed for the program's Phase I campaign. Selleck-Chocolate was an assistant facilitator for Sex Ed North last year. - photo courtesy of Lee Selleck |
"We have a grant (request) in right now that we're hoping to get funded by (the Canadian Institute of Health Research)," said Vanessa Oliver, an assistant professor at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick. "This time ... the project has taken a more indigenous focus in the second phase, mostly because of the parts of research that came out of Behchoko in the phase one report. There is also already really good research infrastructure going on in Behchoko with the (Community Action Research Team)."
Overall, youth were less aware of available sex education resources than the adult respondents and Behchoko youth were aware of fewer resources than their Yellowknife counterparts.
"I get (information) from probably friends ... or go to school and they used to teach that in Grade 7, I remember a few [things] that they said." said one anonymous Behchoko youth in the report.
Behchoko's relatively small population was identified as an obstacle to finding information by one Behchoko youth respondent.
"Everyone knows everyone, so it really makes people, I guess, it really makes some people uncomfortable," said the anonymous respondent.
The first phase took place last summer, when Oliver and Lisa Dawn Hamilton, also an assistant professor at the university, surveyed 17 youths and 22 adults in Behchoko and Yellowknife about sex education.
A report on the survey was released in July and listed anonymous quotes from respondents, frequently comparing youth responses with adult responses.
"I think one of the biggest surprises was the difference between ... what the adults were saying and what the youth were saying," Oliver said. "The adults had a lot to say about all the resources that were around Yellowknife in particular, and other sorts of projects and programs that were going on - and there are quite a few doing really good work. When we talked to the youth ... they weren't necessarily aware in some cases of the resources that were available to them."
In partnership with the Tlicho Community Action Research Team and the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, Sex Ed North hopes to facilitate the project's second phase, the creation of videos and website materials made by youth for youth, after holding a sex education workshop with the participants.
"In the first phase, we talked to youth about what they thought of the idea of film-making for sex education and HIV prevention, and whether or not they thought that would be a good medium to get youth interested, learning, involved and engaged," Oliver said. "For the most part, the young people said that was a good way to go."
Oliver said the Department of Health and Social Services, which is not directly involved in the project, has been supportive by providing access to data which may help to track the impact of the project in the future.
Colin Eddie, the department's manager of communicable diseases, said health professionals also participated in the focus group.
Eddie said the department has looked at the report but its small sample size and lack of demographic information prevent drawing concrete conclusions about the state of sexual education in the NWT.
"(It might be more informative if) they had a larger-sized group or they identified demographics. Are they in school right now? How old are they right now?" Eddie said.
"For example, if someone has not gone to school for whatever reason they wouldn't have been exposed to a lot of the education around these resources."
The quotes listed in the report do echo opinions the department has heard before and has tried to integrate into the resources made available to the public, Eddie added.
In particular, the desire to have youth speaking to youth about sex education has been previously identified as important, as well as sex education that teaches respect in addition to sex-related biology.
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