SCPIE is the recipient of state and federal grants to implement abstinence education training in several South Carolina communities. Some funding is provided through the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control and another source is the US Department of Health and Human Services Community-Based Abstinence Education Project.

Programs

South Carolina Parents Involved in Education (SC PIE) provides a sustainable intervention model that addresses South Carolina’s persistent problem of adolescent sexual activity which results in adolescent out-of-wedlock pregnancies and adolescent sexually transmitted diseases. SC PIE’s unprecedented model equips public school teachers to provide a strong abstinence until marriage message to students and empowers adult community members to support and reinforce this message.

Teachers in seven public school districts are being trained to understand the social, psychological and health gains to be realized when adolescents abstain from sexual activity until marriage. The teachers are further provided a curriculum-specific training to implement Scott and White Worth the Wait abstinence education curriculum.

A subcontract with Life Support Inc. provides concentrated efforts in the African American faith community of the targeted school districts. At least 42 churches in these communities are training their clergy, lay leaders and parents to implement the Healthy Image of Sex curriculum, specifically designed for this target population.

South Carolina Parents Involved in Education expects the results and benefits of the proposed project to be:

1. reduction in the proportion of adolescents who engage in premarital sexual activity, including but not limited to sexual intercourse;
2. reduction in the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and
3. reduction in the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases among adolescents.

Success Story

Issue
Veronica, one of my fifteen-year-old students, said her doctor found precancerous lesions on her cervix when she had a pap smear, and she was going to have to have them removed. My reaction was a combination of pity and a sense of horror, first in knowing that this young girl would probably have to be checked by a gynecologist every year for the rest of her life to guarantee she would not develop a cancer that would take her life. Second, a sense of horror came from knowing that we in the educational system had possibly lulled her and other young people into a sense of safety in sex, a nonchalance for which she was now paying. Chlamydia infections in women increased by 5.9% from 2003 to 2004, with South Carolina ranking 4th in the country for this disease. South Carolina also had some of the highest cases of gonorrhea and syphilis reported to the Center for Disease Control.

Using a condom has proven effective in preventing AIDS as well as pregnancy in only 85% of all cases. But even more alarming is the fact that there is a new sexually transmitted killer on the horizon. Sexually transmitted diseases are increasing in number. In 1960, there were only two known STD’s. In her book , Epidemic: How Teen Sex is Killing Our Kids, Dr. Meg Meeker states that “The Center for Disease Control and Prevention consider it a multiple epidemic of at least 25 diseases – nearly 50 if you count the various strains of virus groups.” STD’s are also morphing into more serious forms, and the curable ones are becoming more antibiotic-resistant.

Abstinence is certainly key to STD prevention, as we now know:
* There isn’t any evidence that proves human papilloma virus can be stopped by condoms, nor is there much risk avoided by condom use for many other sexually transmitted diseases to the exclusion of HIV/AIDS.
* All sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, are more readily transferred to young females due to the fact that the skin covering the cervical ring is not completely mature.

Intervention
This new knowledge is the result of training provided by South Carolina Parents Involved in Education (SC PIE), whose staff is determined to protect our kids by giving them the information that they need to make better choices. With the help of SC PIE and thanks to a $150,000 grant from the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, a new sex education curriculum, Worth the Wait, is being implemented in the Marlboro County school district. As an indicator of adolescent sexual activity, the teenage pregnancy rate in Marlboro County is significantly higher than the state average (44.8% versus a state average of 34.8% in 2002.) Because of this, the Marlboro County school district was selected for the pilot program.

The first part of this program was to train the teachers. All teachers in Marlboro County that teach 6th - 9th grade human sexuality courses were required to attend a graduate level course on Human Sexuality, followed by training in the Worth the Wait curriculum. This involved 16 teachers from 8 schools across the county. These teachers are currently teaching this curriculum to the 1700+ students in the school district in this age group. This is an interactive curriculum, with powerpoint presentations, videos, and various activities for the students to complete.

Impact
Because teachers like myself are now equipped with information from the SC PIE training, students like Veronica will learn that sex is worth the wait. With the intensive training received, the teachers in this county are better equipped to teach the subject of Human Sexuality.

To measure the success of this program, SC PIE will be working with DHEC to monitor teenage pregnancy rates, out-of-wedlock births, abortions and STD’s in Marlboro County. In addition, surveys will be conducted with adolescents to determine impact on their decisions on abstinence.

Contact:
Margaret Lenhart
Reproductive Health Teacher
Infinity School, Marlboro County School District
1-847-454-2034
mickielenhart@gmail.com

(Student confidentiality – “Veronica” is not a real student name, but a name used to represent a student with the health condition of many South Carolina adolescents/teens)