Ações educativas para uma vida sexual saudável: ênfase no uso de contraceptivos para prevenção de gravidez indesejada e infecções sexualmente transmissíveis

Abstract

Adolescence is one of the most beautiful and challenging phases of the human development process, puberty represents an important milestone in the beginning of this period, characterized by psychosociological, mental, morphophysiological, social and sexual changes that prepare the body for the reproduction of the species, thus determining the beginning of the reproductive life of these individuals. Cases of unwanted pregnancy are frequent among young people, often caused by lack of knowledge and unpreparedness regarding the use of contraceptive methods. Teenage pregnancy can lead to a number of physiological complications, including both mother and baby, increasing the chances of risk and death, childbirth or postpartum complications. In addition to these problems, when pregnant, the adolescent does not attend classes daily and, often, abdicates her studies, impacting her educational and emotional life, the need for her early insertion in the job market and consequently her future economic life. More effective approaches to contraceptive use should be undertaken and schools represent an undeniable space for adolescent sexuality intervention, through the implementation of public policies that promote their integral health. Thus, the present work aimed to develop educational actions, using action research methodology and investigative approaches, to promote the awareness of high school students about a healthy sex life with emphasis on the use of contraceptives as a way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. The results showed that the participants were protagonists of the construction of their own knowledge, portrayed by the construction of pedagogical materials (instructional panels and booklets), which were used both for discussion of the subject in the classroom, as well as for the dissemination and multiplication of this knowledge for school community at a “Diversity Fair” event. In addition, laboratory and clinic simulations for consultations and clarifications were performed, where even a fictitious male contraceptive was proposed. The success of the teaching and learning process can be verified by the fact that there was no case of unwanted pregnancy among the participants, unlike the previous years of several pregnant adolescents. This fact suggests that this action research / investigation methodology, used in the developed activities, had a great impact on the social formation of the participants, causing sensitization of adolescents in relation to unwanted pregnancy, the use of contraceptive methods, positively reflecting on the lives of these students, giving them the autonomy of decision making and family planning.