What Makes Sex Education Interventions Effective: Needs and Expectations?

Abstract. Evidence indicates that people not only mistakenly believe they are able to recognise risky situations in their everyday lives and avoid Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), but also that they hold stereotypical beliefs about who is most likely to contract an STI. In particular, if the image of a sexual partner is not consistent with the stereotypical image of someone who is infected with an STI, the possibility that the partner could be infected may be underestimated. Digital interventions offer enormous potential for young people’s sex education. This paper focuses on designing and developing interventions that could give people the potential to engage with the world and their sexual interactions on a different layer within which they can come to better understand the ramifications of the risk taking involved in their sexual behavior, via a safer setting. But what makes an effective sex education program? As early literature evidence suggests, a two-way, interactive, secure and tailored form of education is more promising than a traditional one-way passive from of education. A survey was conducted and the collected data was analysed to further elicit the user requirements of innovative digital sex education interventions. Keywords: sex education, digital interventions, sexual health, innovation.