Graduation Semester and Year
2022
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing
Department
Nursing
First Advisor
Donna L Hamby
Abstract
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) have drastically increased in recent years nationwide and worldwide. Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) ages 15-24 make up just over one-quarter of the sexually active populace. Additionally, AYAs account for half of the 20 million new sexually transmitted infections in the United States. Compared with older adults, sexually active adolescents aged 15–19 years and young adults aged 20–24 years are at higher risk of getting STDs. Lack of knowledge of risk and protective factors and high-risk sexual health practices and behaviors significantly contribute to AYAs' STD acquisition. Hence, increasing STDs awareness and prevention is essential in reducing high incident rates of STDs among AYAs. At a practice clinic setting in the metropolitan area in Texas, a quality improvement project implementation offered sexual transmitted diseases consultation and education to AYAs 18-24 years by using the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework to increase disease general knowledge. The Sexually Transmitted Disease Knowledge Questionnaire [STD-KQ] was the tool that was used to assess the AYAs' STD general knowledge and cause/cure comprehension pre/post-intervention. The project used paired sample t-test as the final bivariate, which indicated that the mean number of total scale right STD knowledge items changed statistically significant level, t(10) = -7.27, p<.001 from pretest to post-test (M=26.64, SD=.67), with large effect size (Cohen's d= -2.88). Integrating STD education and counsel into primary care practice will help improve AYAs' sexual practices and prompt providers to identify those associated with the risk of STD acquisition.
Keywords
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), STDs/STIs prevention, STDs education, Sexual health, Sexual behavior, Adolescent, Risk factors, Young adults
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences | Nursing
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Obidiaku, Maryrose Chinedu, "Sexually Transmitted Diseases Consultation and Education for Adolescents and Young Adults" (2022). Nursing Dissertations. 88.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/nursing_dissertations/88
Comments
Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington