Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Policy and Administration

Advisor

Mary Brown

Abstract

Data-driven research is an ethical precept for nearly every profession, and it holds a particular importance within any human-services field, including public health education. This research study used a phenomenological methodology and Brofenbrenner’s theoretical framework to construct descriptive themes, investigating how public school instructors' personal beliefs impact teaching practice. Ten in-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with public high school teachers who self-identified as being involved with sex education instruction. Participants were selected from several public Minnesota high schools responsible for providing sex education to public school students in Grades 9 to 12. The findings revealed several themes relating to how instructors experience and understand their role(s) as sex education instructors: (a) Students often receive unsubstantiated or ambiguous curricula that are ideologically or politically driven, (b) participants have complete discretion to modify the recommended curriculum, and (c) participants reported that some teachers' beliefs were incongruent with researcher recommendations to the detriment of sex education quality. Recommendations for further research include assessing the generalizability and transferability of the study's findings and replications with different populations. This study's findings have significant implications for positive social change. Unbiased sex education instruction, guided by a detailed, standardized, evidence-based curriculum, has been identified as an effective means of equipping adolescents to make healthy, informed choices about sexual behaviors.

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