Education as a tool for the prevention of teenage pregnancy and the construction of positive masculinities

Abstract

Education is the most efficient way to prevent teenage pregnancy and promote the construction of positive masculinities, which involves providing young people with accurate and comprehensive education on sexual and reproductive health. Pregnancy at an early age, from its beginning, means risk to the health of the adolescent and that of her child. Most of the time they are unwanted pregnancies and they do not come for prenatal care. The objective of this project was to apply educational strategies so that the students of the “El Anegado” school know their body, the changes consistent with age, and change their learning culture to avoid pregnancies at an early age. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the educational strategy, an observational, descriptive study was carried out through an educational intervention in the Anegado parish of the Jipijapa canton in the southern area of Manabí, executed with prior characterization of it, carried out in the last semester of the year. 2023. The study universe was 120 adolescents of both sexes, aged between 10 and 19 years, with prior informed consent. Knowledge was explored before and after the intervention, where insufficiencies regarding contraceptive methods and psychosocial risk factors prevailed. The educational strategies applied in the intervention proved to be effective in improving the sexual and reproductive education of the beneficiaries in this community.