SHARE
NHS Health Scotland, formerly known as HEBS, is Scotland's national agency for health education, health promotion, health advice and health information. The SHARE programme was produced as part of a research project with HEBS and the Medical Research Council in 1992. The programme has been revised and updated periodically, and the most recent edition was published in March 2006.
Development of programme
The SHARE programme originated in the early 1990s from concerns about four aspects of young people’s sexual health:
- the increasing teenage abortion rate
- the prevalence of HIV in the east of Scotland
- increasing evidence of the high prevalence of chlamydia and its links with subsequent fertility
- the reported high incidence of coercive sexual encounters
A group of researchers with involvement in studies of young people’s sexual behaviour worked together to develop a sustainable school sex education programme that was research based, drawn from the best existing materials and to be rigorously evaluated.
In 1993, HEBS funded preliminary research into current provision of sex education in Scotland, young people’s perceived sex education needs and the feasibility of a research based intervention and its evaluation. The original research team then developed learning objectives for a two-year programme. The teacher training course and resource pack were piloted in 1994 in Lothian and Tayside.
Programme aims
The broad aims of the SHARE programme are to:
- improve the quality of young people’s romantic and sexual relationships, particularly in terms of
- reducing anxiety and regretted sexual behaviours
- reduce the incidence of unsafe sex
- reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancies
Programme content
The programme is aimed at young people aged 12-16. There are 21 sessions, which can be arranged across S3 and S4 or S2, S3 and S4, depending on the needs of a schools or a particular year group. Some sessions are essential to the programme for each stage; others can be combined. Sessions are timed at 35 minutes. Additional activities are also included in Options/Extensions.
The main themes are:
- physiology
- relationships
- experience of early sexual encounters
- knowledge of contraception
- parenthood and STIs
- skills for sexual negotiation
- condom use
- accessing local sexual health services
Healthy Respect offers multi-disciplinary training courses and ongoing CPD in SHARE, to ensure those involved in classroom delivery feel confident and competent to do so.
You can find out more about SHARE at www.msoc-mrc.gla.ac.uk
NHS Health Scotland’s website is at www.healthscotland.com