Keywords
contraception
sex education
adolescent
health literacy
Abstract
Introduction: A large proportion of all pregnancies worldwide occur in young adolescent women, and almost all these pregnancies are unintentional. To address effective educational interventions, it is necessary to assess adolescents’ knowledge on this topic. The aim of this study was to translate and validate the Italian version of the SexContraKnowinstrument.
Methods: This was a methodological study. The validation of the instrument was performed following the EORTC Quality of Life Group translation procedure. The process consisted of four phases: translation, content validation, face validation, and pilot test. Data were collected between May and September 2021.
Results: After performing forward and backward translations, we evaluated content validity (Scale-Content Validity Index=0.91) and face validity. We then conducted a pilot test, test re-test, with 10 students (Cronbach α=0.928; Pearson’s R=0.991).
Conclusion: The Italian Version of the SexContraKnow instrument has a good level of validation and reliability and can be effectively used by nurses to assess adolescents’ knowledge about the use of contraceptives and to develop targeted educational interventions. This instrument will help to evaluate the effectiveness of education programmes about health literacy about safe sex and contraception. The attention of nurses should be actively directed towards the process of health literacy among adolescents, in the perspective of a society focused on the empowerment of the population.
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