Abstract:

Adolescent pregnancy is a major socio-medical and economic problem in developed and developing countries that is becoming more prevalent in recent times. The specific objectives are to assess the level of pre-intervention knowledge on comprehensive sexuality education for any pre-intervention healthy negotiation skills, administer the adolescents’ comprehensive sexuality education emphasizing the healthy negotiation skills, measure post intervention levels of knowledge on comprehensive sexuality education and measure post intervention HN skills of adolescents. The study adopted a pretest-posttest quasi experimental design; made up of experimental and control groups which consisted of 720 adolescents randomly selected from four co-educational secondary schools. A modified questionnaire was used to elicit information from the participants. Interventional CSE program was administered after pretest was given to the participants in the interventional schools. Two research hypotheses were tested and analysed using ANOVA statistical too significant at 0.05 alpha level. Findings revealed that the knowledge of CSE empowered and developed adolescents’ sexuality behaviors, and there were increased responses among adolescents who reported they developed HNS at post-intervention as they learnt to defend themselves from environmental peer pressures. Conclusively, the intervention effectively improved knowledge, enhanced better self- esteem, increased self-dignity, assertiveness and sex refusal. Recommendations, CSE to equip adolescents with HNS should be adopted in the schools’ curriculum to build assertiveness and improve adolescents’ sex negotiation skills.