Purpose: Several measurement tools have been developed for health literacy. However, little emphasis has been placed on the development of sexual health literacy (SHL) in adolescents. This paper describes the development and validation of an SHL measurement tool for pregnancy prevention among adolescents (SHL-PPA).
Methodology: This study explores research and development (R&D) and presents three stages of R&D, including a literature review, the Delphi approach, and a valid and reliable questionnaire. Three groups were used for the population and sampling: 18 experts, five competent people, and 654 adolescents. An online self-assessment tool was used. The data analysis methods used were median, interquartile range, content validity index, Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and exploratory factor analysis.
Results: The results show that the definition of SHL for adolescents was "cognitive, social, and cultural skills that determine the motivation and ability of an adolescent to access and sufficiently understand sexual health information and services, which results in them being capable of sexual health assessment and making decisions to prevent pregnancy". The final devised SHL-PPA included 33 items and the three following components: 1) accessibility to sexual health information and services, 2) an understanding of sexual health information and services and appraisal of sexual health to prevent pregnancy, and 3) applying the obtained sexual health information and skills to prevent pregnancy.
Conclusion: This study proves that the SHL-PPA is appropriate for Generation Z teenagers, particularly for online self-assessment of SHL. An online self-evaluation using the SHL-PPA demonstrated that related organizations should develop online activities or programs to improve teenage girls' pregnancy-prevention behavior.
Keywords: instrument; pregnancy; school health; sexual health literacy; student; youth.
© 2023 Thongnopakun et al.