Quick Scan of Current Pan-Canadian Activities in Sexual Health in the School Health Context

PROPOSAL SUBMITTING ORGANIZATION:

Canadian Federation for Sexual Health (CFSH)

SUBMITTED:

April 27, 2007

Submitted To:

Kathy Cassels

Joint Consortium for School Health (JCSH)

The Directorate of Agencies for School Health (DASH BC)
PO Box 74004
Surrey, BCV4N 5H9

Email:

Submitted By:

Linda Capperauld, Executive Director

1 Nicholas Street, Suite 430, Ottawa, ON, K1N 7B7

Tel: (613) 214-4474 ext. 226

Fax: (613) 241-7550

Email:

Synopsis

The Canadian Federation for Sexual Health (formerly known as Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada) is submitting this proposal in response to the call initiated by the Joint Consortium for School Health (JCSH). CFSH is putting forward its organization under the leadership of Linda Capperauld, Executive Director, as a candidate to fulfill the JCSH’s request for a scan of current Pan-Canadian activities in sexual health in the school health context.

CFSH has worked extensively for over forty years to fulfill its of vision of a global society that celebrates healthy sexuality, its diversity of expression and reproductive choice as fundamental human rights for individuals throughout life. A core component of CFSH’s ongoing efforts is to promote comprehensive sexuality education in Canada’s public education institutions. Comprehensive sexuality education is recognized around the world as an effective means of promoting sexual health, reducing unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and sexual violence, improving well-being and sense of self, and learning about values and personal responsibility in decision-making and behavior. In response to the demonstrated need for quality, tested and evaluated sexuality education teaching curriculum, CFSH developed Beyond the Basics: A Sourcebook on Sexual and Reproductive Health Education. This set of sexual health education curriculum for Grades 6-12 was originally created in 2002, and updated in 2006. Part of the process of Beyond the Basics’development included a Pan-Canadian scan and identification of comprehensive sexual health education tools and practices.

In addition to Beyond the Basics, CFSH has extensive experience in researching, developing and writing of numerous publications on sexual and reproductive health. Furthermore, CFSH has extensive and wide-reaching partnerships with non-governmental organizations working in the field of sexual and reproductive health, education and rights. And CFSH’s members have expertise in comprehensive sexual health education program development and implementation and are a ready resource for identification of local programs and activities in communities across Canada.These networks and members will be indispensable in identifying Canadian sexual health school education documents and activities.

Expected Deliverables of Consultancy

Confirmed listing of relevant experts, informants and sexual health organizations

Listing of Pan-Canadian documents and activities on sexual health in the school health context including electronic links and references

Final report of the Pan-Canadian quick scan of sexual health in the school health context in written and electronic format

CFSH Capacity

CFSH is the only national non-governmental organization in Canada that, through its 26 members, supports services, information and counseling exclusively on sexual and reproductive health. For over 40 years, CFSH has worked nationally and internationally to ensure that people have access to unbiased and reliable information and services in order to make informed decisions about their health.

CFSH’s mission is to take leadership in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights in Canada and abroad through:

  • Public education and awareness
  • Support for the delivery of programs and services in Canada
  • Advocacy
  • International projects and liaison with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)

Approaching its work from a gender perspective and with a commitment to sexual and reproductive health information and services as a fundamental human right, CFSH addresses a range of health issues including comprehensive sexuality education, family planning, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, and reproductive health issues.

CFSH has extensive experience conducting literature searches and reviews as evidenced through the referenced publications below and has the demonstrated skills necessary to fulfill this contract.

In 2006 CFSH conducted a comprehensive Pan-Canadian scan of current sexual health teaching curriculum and activities in order to update the Beyond the Basics manual. This involved a complete review of Beyond the Basics, researching and reviewing lesson plans and resources that have emerged since Beyond the Basics’ initial publication in 2001, as well as researching and reviewing lesson plans, activities and resources for emerging topic areas not covered in the first edition.

With regards to reporting, CFSH, and the identified staff in particular, has widespread experience developing and submitting timely and comprehensive reports to a broad cross-section of funders and contractors.

Principal Personnel Summary

The team will be comprised of 2 key individualswho have far-reaching and long-standing experience in research, writing, analysis, literature review and reporting.

Linda Capperauld, CFSH Executive Director / Jeanine Ewert, CFSH Director of Programs
Proposal Role: Executive Supervisor
Qualifications: MSW, Sexuality Awareness Certification / Proposal Role: Key Researcher
Qualifications: BSW

The named individuals are responsible for numerous high-quality publications, reports and papers of which a few are mentioned below:

  • Untitled Report on Canadians’ Sexual Health (to be released)
  • Beyond the Basics: A Sourcebook on Sexual and Reproductive Health Education, 2nd Edition, 2006
  • Sexual and Reproductive Health Counselling Guidelines, 2004
  • Final Report: Community Based Reproductive Health Extension Project Pakistan, 2006
  • Gender Equality Strategy, 2004
  • Finding Our Way: A Sexual and Reproductive Health Sourcebook for Aboriginal Communities, 2002
  • Evaluation of the Girl Child Education Project in Kassena-Nankana District, 2002
  • Participatory Evaluation Protocol Manual for Gender-Sensitive Qualitative Monitoring and Evaluation Using Participatory Rural Appraisal Methods, 2001

Implementation Schedule

CFSH will conduct a thorough scan of Pan-Canadian resources for comprehensive sexuality education in a school health context that will include documents and activities developed for use in classrooms from Kindergarten to Grade 12. Although sexual health activities and documents generally are designed for use in Grades 6 and up, CFSH believes it is crucial to begin teaching age-appropriate sexual health education at an early age. While it is not anticipated that there will be many activities and documents specific to younger age groups, the scan will include younger age groups in its scope given the importance of providing comprehensive sexual health education from entrance to completion of public education. Given that Canada is a bilingual country, the scope of the scan will include both English and French language activities and documents. Further to this, the scan will include documents and activities pertaining to differing levels of ability, gender, and the different cultural communities that compose the Canadian population.

CFSH’s partners, networks and members will be requested to assist in the process of identifying Canadian sexual health school education documents and activities thus expanding the reach of the scan.

Preparation (1 week starting May 14, 2007)

  1. Review listing of relevant experts, informants and sexual health organizations
  2. Identify additional or spin-off experts, informants and sexual health organizations
  3. Schedule phone interviews with experts, informants and sexual health organizations

Information Collection (3 weeks)

  1. Conduct phone interviews with experts, informants and sexual health organizations
  2. Follow-up on identified documents and activities
  3. Follow-up with third-party references
  4. Continuous drafting/updating of listing including electronic links and references
  5. Submission of list of Pan-Canadian documents and activities by June 15, 2007

Draft Report (2 weeks)

  1. Conduct follow-up as necessary
  2. Make revisions to listing as necessary
  3. Draft final report and submit to JCSH by June 29, 2007

Final Edit (2 weeks)

1. Final editing and formatting of written and electronic quick scan report

2. Submission to JCSH by July 13, 2007

Examples of Previous Work

Beyond the Basics: A Sourcebook on Sexual and Reproductive Health Education, 2nd Edition was designed for use in the classroom and in community agencies and complements existing programs and curriculum guidelines set by provincial and territorial Ministries of Education.Beyond the Basics was developed in collaboration with experts in sexual and reproductive health from across Canada. Its production included a needs assessment whereby 50 educators and 8 focus groups comprised of 44 youth across the country were consulted, a review process undertaken by 32 educators, and pilot testing which took place in six classrooms and four community-based settings. The extensive manual contains lesson plans for different age groups on a wide range of sexual health education topics including values, puberty and reproductive health, self esteem, sexual identity, relationships, communication and decision-making, contraception, safer sex, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV/AIDS prevention.

Sexual and Reproductive Health Counselling Guidelines presents information, techniques and suggestions for service providers who wish to incorporate STI/HIV prevention into the support services they provide for clients. Based on the experience of key informants working in the field, the guidelines can be used as a tool to improve skills, train staff or provide additional information for clients in a clinical, community or educational setting. The Counselling Guidelines were designed for community educators, public health nurses, doctors, crisis counsellors, and therapists.

Untitled Report on Canadians’ Sexual Health (to be released) will increase public and professional understanding of the status of sexual and reproductive health in Canada. The report amasses and analyzes current research on key health indicators including contraceptive use, sexually transmitted infections, sexual violence and pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes with a particular emphasis on trends among young Canadians. By compiling data on these fundamental indicators into a single resource, The Untitled Report on Canadians’ Sexual Health allows for a holistic impression of sexual and reproductive health in Canada thusenabling critical gaps in research, public awareness and access to services to be clearly identified.

References

Dr. Michael Birmingham

Executive Director, Carlington Community & Health Services (CFSH member)

(613) 722-4000 ext 226

E-Mail:

Andrea Cohen

Executive Director, LawrenceHeightsCommunityHealthCenter (CFSH member)

Member of the Working Group on School Health of the JCSH

(416) 787-1676 ext 251

Kim Tytler

Health Promotion Manager, Children’s Affiliate, Canadian Health Network, Canadian Child Care Federation

Member of the Working Group on School Health of the JCSH

613-729-5289 ext 242

1

Quick Scan of Sexual Health in the School Health Context

Proposal Submission

Canadian Federation for Sexual Health