Date of Award

5-2021

Degree Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences

Department

Public Health

Abstract

Cultural factors, including language barriers and stigma associated with the topic of intercourse, can lead to lapse in sexual education and avoidance of treatment for sexually-transmitted diseases (CDC, 2020). Few studies explore this discrepancy in the immigrant population. For example, Lee, P.-I. et al. (2020) explores the significance of educating the parents of children between the ages of 6-18 years on sexual health topics. The result indicated significantly higher improvement in characteristics, such as, sexual knowledge and development of self-efficacy, in the experimental group as compared to the control one. Based on previous studies analyzed, the researchers believe that this boost in confidence and knowledge will influence a more effective line of communication between the parents and children regarding sexual health topics. Another study by Taylor et al. (2010) evaluated the effectiveness of hepatitis B English as second language (ESL) courses in Asian immigrants in North America. The results indicated that the ESL curriculum improved the knowledge of HBV infections, but had limited effects on the testing levels. Additionally, a study by Zhang et al. (2020) tests the efficacy of school-based Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine education programs. The results indicated that the experimental group of adolescents, who underwent the HPV vaccination lectures, has a higher knowledge about HPV and HPV vaccination and willingness to get vaccinated than the control group (who did not attend the lecture). The aforementioned studies do not indicate any behavioral changes in the participants. Therefore, HPV vaccination programs were also studied for effective behavior-changing interventions that can be mimicked in the area of sexual health. In a study by Farmar et al. (2016), the researchers explored various interventions, such as, bundling the vaccination with others and increasing the opportunity for vaccination initiation and completion. This paved the way to an increase in their vaccination rate to be higher than the national average. These studies suggest that educational programs for both adults and children, as well as, active-persistence on the side of healthcare providers, could improve sexual health outcomes in the overall Asian immigrant population of the United States.

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