Role of parents in hygienic and sexual education of children and adolescents

Abstract

The issue of protecting reproductive health is closely related to the childen’s and adolescents’ awareness of the negative impact of early sexual activity and pregnancy, as well as sexually transmitted diseases. At the same time, awareness of parents involved in raising children is poorly understood. The study was aimed to estimate the parents’ competence (awareness) in the field of children’s sexual and hygienic education by conducting a webinar and an online questionnaire survey. Parents were surveyed in 2022–2023. A psychologist conducted the webinar, after which the online questionnaire survey was carried out in order to assess the effectiveness of the webinar as a relevant tool to improve the parents’ competence. It was found that almost all parents believed it was necessary to discuss the issue of sexual education with children, however, among them only 64.4% actually addressed the issue. Parents had no consensus on the age of starting sexual education in children. The main difficulties in communication with children were shyness, insufficient knowledge and the lack of methods to inform the child. According to 91% of women and 66% of men, the webinar conducted by psychologist was the best method to improve the parents’ competence. It appeared to be informative for 90% of parents. The joint efforts of parents, doctors, psychologists, and teachers are the solution to the problem of sexual and hygienic education. Furthermore, informational and educational work with parents and the family is important, since the child’s sexual and hygienic education is started since early age.