الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Adolescence is a transitional period from childhood to adulthood, which characterized with many physical and sexual changes. The majority of Egyptian adolescents have neither access to sexual information nor health services regarding sexuality. Adolescents, especially females, have historically been neglected as an age group, they are at risk of; female genital cutting, early marriage, unwanted pregnancy as well as infection with sexually transmitted diseases.
Adolescents have the right to receive scientific, religious, culturally, and moral health teaching programs regarding sexuality. Such programs help adolescents to be aware of sexual knowledge that is necessary for responsible behaviors and positive attitudes toward their sexual life. Providing of these programs is a basic responsibility of parents and others who can deal with adolescents as teachers and health care personnel. Pediatric nurse can also play a crucial role as sex educator for children, adolescents and their families.
Aim of the study
The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a health teaching program on female adolescents’ sexual knowledge and attitudes.
Materials and method
A convenient sample of 120 newly admitted female adolescents were selected from Technical Institute of Nursing affiliated to Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University. Two tools were used for data collection. Tool І: ”Adolescents’ Knowledge Concerning Female and Male Sexuality Questionnaire”. it was used to assess female adolescents’sexual knowledge. It included two parts; demographic data and information related to female sexuality. Tools П: ”Female Adolescents’ Attitude Toward Sexuality”. It was modified by the researcher to assess female adolescents’ sexual attitudes, it includes 40 statements.
Pre-test was done to assess female adolescents’ sexual knowledge and attitudes before program implementation using tool І and tool П. Health teaching program regarding sexuality was designed for the female adolescents according to pre-test data analysis and female adolescents’ needs. The program was implemented among six consecutive weeks. The program was evaluated immediately and after three months of the program implementation.
The main findings yielded by this study were:
• The female adolescents’ age ranges between 17 and 19 years.
• Three quarter of female adolescents (75%) were residing in urban areas, while the rest of them (25%) were residing in rural ones.
• More than half of the female adolescents (53%) were living in overcrowded houses, while 47% of them were living in uncrowded houses.
• Concerning the family type, the highest percent of female adolescents (80%) were living in nuclear families, while 17.5 % of them were living in single parent families (divorced) and 2.5% of them were living in extended families.
• Illiterate female adolescents’ mothers represented 19.1% of the total sample and the same percent represent the basic level of education. More than half of female adolescents’ mothers (56.7%) had secondary education. Only 5% of them were highly educated.
• Illiterate female adolescents’ fathers represented 13% of the total sample. More than one third of female adolescent’ fathers (35%) had basic education. Moreover, 40% of female adolescents’ fathers had a secondary education. Only 12% of them were highly educated.
• Concerning total scores of female adolescents’ sexual knowledge before program implementation; more than three thirds of female adolescents (76%) obtained” poor” scores; while fifth of them (21%) obtained satisfactory scores. Only 3% of female adolescents had good scores.
• The majority of female adolescents (80%) reported that friends were the main source of their knowledge regarding sexuality, while teachers were the second source.
• The minority of female adolescents were seeking information from their mothers regarding male reproductive system, STDS/AIDS and masturbation (2.5%, 1.7% and 0.8% respectively).
• Statistical significant relationship was found between female adolescents’ total percent scores of knowledge concerning sexuality and their mothers’ level of education.
• Statistical significant relationship was also found between fathers’ level of education and the total percent scores of their female adolescent’s knowledge regarding sexuality.
• Statistical significant relationship between female adolescent’s knowledge concerning sexuality and crowding index, where the majority of female adolescents who lived in crowded houses (89%); had ”poor” level of knowledge.
• It is illustrated that female adolescents expressed higher knowledge mean score about sexuality after implementation of the program. There was a statistical significant difference between mean scores of pre-test and post-test.
• Concerning attitudes of female adolescents regarding sexuality before program implementation; nearly three quarters of female adolescents (72.5%) had positive attitudes and fifth of them (20.8%) had uncertain attitudes and only 6.7% had negative attitudes.
• After implementation of the program and three months later, female adolescents exhibited more positive attitudes regarding sexuality, where 85% of them had positive attitudes.