Lo que aprendí al llevar DiverXas360º al XIV Taller EvaluAES: una experiencia desde dentro

Educational programs and their impact on the health of citizens do not cease to be complementary places. Something more complex involves seeing these phenomena materialized in a common place. The EvaluAES group strives every year to make its EvaluAES Workshop and Table the common places where this manifest will of the group happens in its annals. On this occasion, Bárbara Bretones (Cantabrian Anti-AIDS Citizen Association (ACCAS)), social educator, and Carlota Las Hayas (University of Deusto), an expert in educational psychology, told us about their work and their respective comments in the past EvaluAES Workshop. If what you read in this entry seems unusual to you and you would like to participate in the XV EvaluAES Workshop on February 6 in Granada, you can register here. We are waiting for you!

Presentation by Bárbara Bretones

When I received confirmation that my work “Evaluation of Sexual Education in adolescents: preliminary study based on data from the DiverXas360º program” It had been accepted by the Scientific Committee for presentation at the XIV EvaluAES Workshop, and he felt a mixture of excitement, responsibility and vertigo. EvaluAES is not just any space: it is a reference meeting point for professionals who exchange knowledge and reflect rigorously on how to measure, interpret and improve health policies and services.

Presenting there was a significant challenge for me. I am a social educator and facing this exercise in a context with data analysis professionals generated in me an obvious feeling of insecurity, but also the conviction that it was a necessary step to continue strengthening the program.

The organization where I work, ACCAS, It is the only entity specialized in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Cantabria, and one of the few that offers emotional-sexual education services aimed at young people. Since 1993 we have supported sexual education as a key tool for emotional, physical and social well-being, and to build a more egalitarian society free of discrimination. From there it is born DiverXas360ºa six-session program that adapts to the reality of each group from a biopsychosocial perspective of sexuality.

For some time now we have wanted to put figures to what we have been seeing every day: that sexual education not only prevents sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or unplanned pregnancies, but also forms the basis of relationships with healthy dynamics and helps prevent violence. After months of designing clear questionnaires for adolescents but solid for evaluation, in the 2023-2024 academic year we carried out the program in different educational centers in our community, reaching 570 young people between 14 and 17 years old.

We wanted to understand in a concrete way what sexual education they received, what they knew and what they did not know, what silences they carried and what were the consequences of this lack of training. Our objective was to measure the real impact of the program, detect priority areas and, above all, provide evidence that supports the need for stable and mandatory affective-sexual education in the educational system.

As the presentation approached, my concern returned: how to talk about sexual education in such a technical space without losing the essentials. My objective was clear: to show solid data without forgetting that behind it there are teenagers, unspoken questions and realities that need to be heard. I tried to build an honest presentation, in which the program and methodology were clear, but also the human part. I didn’t want him DiverXas360º appear as just another project among many, but as a living, necessary and transformative intervention.

Finally, presenting the work at the XIV EvaluAES Workshop was a deeply enriching experience. Time passed almost without realizing it and, as the exhibition progressed, I had the feeling that the topic aroused special interest, in part because it moved away from previous presentations. I was able to show how the ignorance of the young public is closely linked to the absence of prior training, the influence of pornographic content, the lack of information about one’s own body, preventive and contraceptive methods, STIs, and the difficulty of talking about sexuality in the family environment. At the same time, the results of the questionnaires. post test and satisfaction it was demonstrated that, after the intervention, there was a significant impact on the improvement of the sexual education of the participants, not only in the increase in knowledge, but also in changes in attitudes, skills and perception of risk.

Image: Presentation by Bárbara Bretones

The most enriching thing came later: the subsequent debate, the questions from the audience and the comments of my commentator – Carlota Las Hayas – were, without a doubt, the true gift. Their external view allowed me to discover aspects that, because I was so “inside” the program and due to ignorance, I had overlooked.

And the professional validation was also one of the most significant parts of the experience. Feeling that our social work fit, that it had a legitimate place and that it was in dialogue as equals with recognized health evaluations.

So I left the Workshop with several certainties:

1. Our program had a real impact.
2. The evaluation had to continue growing and being our guide.
3. This preliminary assessment was just the beginning of a deeper path.

Participating in the XIV EvaluAES Workshop was not just about presenting a work. It was sharing a path, opening a dialogue and receiving an impulse to continue researching, improving and defending the importance of evidence-based sexual education.

Comments by Carlota Las Hayas

DiverXas360º It reaches the classrooms when, in many cases, sexual education is already being taught by silence and pornography. The preliminary study of ACCAS in 11 centers in Cantabria (674 adolescents) it offers a clear picture: 28.3% had never received sexual education; 63% had very basic knowledge about STIs and contraception; and 71% said they had no knowledge about HIV. Almost 2 in 10 young people aged 14–17 had entered into relationships and, in a third of those cases, no type of protection was used. One in four consumes pornography frequently or occasionally, and a similar proportion report pressure or difficulty setting limits.

If we read this work with evaluation lenses, three clear successes appear. The first is about focus: it is not limited to “informing”, but rather trains skills (consent, self-care, conversation, agreements and negotiation of protection), aligning education and public health from a rights perspective. The second is pedagogical: a participatory and close facilitating methodology, with an unusual acceptance of a politicized and sensible topic (92% would recommend it; 81.4% rate the information as very useful). The third is mechanism: the program reinforces self-efficacy—that feeling of “I can talk it out, I can set limits, I can take care of myself”—which is often a real driver of change.

The post-workshop results fit this logic: 80.6% declared that they had significantly improved their knowledge about contraception and STI prevention; 63.9% feel safer talking about sexuality; six out of ten say they will apply what they learn in their daily lives; and 78.3% affirm that they will always use preservative. Even so, a resistant blind spot persists: 33.4% maintain stigma towards HIV, reminding us that changing attitudes requires more specific, sustained strategies and perhaps adapted by profiles.

As an agenda for improvement, two fronts seem especially fertile. First, strengthen the attribution: a pre-post design without a control group leaves open alternative explanations (maturation, school climate, social desirability). A comparison group by centers or a scaled design would allow the attributable impact to be estimated. Second, refine the measurement and follow-up: validated instruments, equivalent pre/post items, reported reliability, analysis of sample loss (from 570 in pre-test to 474 in post-test) and follow-up at 3–6 months.

Image: Intervention by Carlota Las Hayas

I close with a key idea: educating about sexuality is not only about preventing risks; It is training to live it with freedom, ethics and affection. DiverXas360º It not only informs: it opens conversation, humanizes and guides towards mutual care. In a hypersexualized and disoriented society, that is—in itself—a powerful form of prevention.