Sexual activity

Sexual activity, in the UW PHI model of health, is within the category Health Promotion and Harm Reduction. Health promotion and harm reduction are prevention and intervention services and activities. They foster health-promoting behaviors and reduce the negative impact of behaviors, such as alcohol and drug use, physical inactivity and risky sexual activity. They include regulating systems, advocating for policies, conducting health education, monitoring wellness and disease, and connecting individuals and communities to services for prevention, treatment and recovery.

Reviewed sexual activity strategies are listed below. Click on column headings to sort by strategy, approach, evidence rating, or short description. Click on the strategy name for more information.

19 results (19 unique strategies)

Strategy ↑↓	Health Topic ↑↓	Approach ↑↓	Evidence Rating ↑↓	Short Description ↑↓
Comprehensive risk reduction sexual education	Sexual activity	Increase safe sex practices	Scientifically Supported	Provide information about contraception and protection against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in classroom or community settings
Condom availability programs	Sexual activity	Increase safe sex practices	Scientifically Supported	Provide condoms free of charge or at a reduced cost in community and school-based settings
Mass media and social marketing campaigns to prevent HIV and other STIs	Sexual activity	Increase safe sex practices	Some Evidence	Use traditional and digital media to disseminate information about safe sex
Multi-component interventions to prevent teen pregnancy	Sexual activity	Increase safe sex practices	Some Evidence	Support initiatives that combine multiple components such as education, skills building, and contraceptive promotion to reduce pregnancy among youth
HIV and STI interventions coordinated with work, vocational training, or sports for youth	Sexual activity	Increase safe sex practices	Insufficient Evidence	Coordinate efforts to reduce risky sexual behavior among adolescents with work, vocational training, or sports
School or community-based abstinence-only education	Sexual activity	Increase safe sex practices	Mixed Evidence	Promote abstinence from sexual activity, generally only with mention of condoms and birth control to highlight failure rates
Behavioral interventions to prevent HIV and other STIs	Sexual activity	Reduce HIV and other sexually transmitted infections	Scientifically Supported	Use individual-, group-, and community-level interventions to provide education, support, and training that can affect social norms about HIV and other STIs
Clinic-based interventions for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination	Sexual activity	Reduce HIV and other sexually transmitted infections	Scientifically Supported	Combine information about HPV and the benefits of vaccination with efforts to support vaccine series completion (e.g., patient and parent education or reminders, physician education, etc.) in clinic-based settings
Digital interventions to prevent HIV and other STIs	Sexual activity	Reduce HIV and other sexually transmitted infections	Scientifically Supported	Provide tailored health information and assistance with decision making, behavior change, and emotional support via digital interactive programs
Expedited partner therapy for treatable STIs	Sexual activity	Reduce HIV and other sexually transmitted infections	Scientifically Supported	Provide prescriptions or medications to patients diagnosed with treatable STIs to give to their partners without provider visits; also called patient-delivered partner therapy (PDPT)
HIV/STI partner notification by providers	Sexual activity	Reduce HIV and other sexually transmitted infections	Scientifically Supported	Notify partners exposed to an STI of their risk, encourage testing, and refer to services; also called contact tracing, or partner counseling and referral services
Community-based interventions for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination	Sexual activity	Reduce HIV and other sexually transmitted infections	Some Evidence	Support HPV vaccination through multi-component community interventions, including education, outreach, navigation support, and vaccine provision
Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine education	Sexual activity	Reduce HIV and other sexually transmitted infections	Insufficient Evidence	Inform adolescents, young adults, and parents about HPV and its consequences, as well as the benefits of vaccination, via videos, printed materials, online content, or in-person efforts
HIV criminalization laws	Sexual activity	Reduce HIV and other sexually transmitted infections	Evidence of Ineffectiveness	Criminalize people living with HIV (PLWH) for actual or perceived HIV exposure or transmission to others
Comprehensive clinic-based programs for pregnant & parenting teens	Sexual activity	Reduce unintended pregnancy	Scientifically Supported	Address the needs of teenage parents via clinic-based programs that provide health care and family planning services as well as case management, counseling, and other supports
Intensive case management for pregnant & parenting teens	Sexual activity	Reduce unintended pregnancy	Some Evidence	Provide pregnant or parenting teens with services based upon their needs (e.g., counseling, connections to health care or social services, academic support, etc.) in school or community settings
Long-acting reversible contraception access	Sexual activity	Reduce unintended pregnancy	Some Evidence	Increase access to LARCs through cost reduction, comprehensive birth control counseling, provider training, efforts to ensure availability at local clinics, etc.
School-based health centers with reproductive health services	Sexual activity	Reduce unintended pregnancy	Some Evidence	Provide reproductive health care services such as counseling, contraception, and testing in middle and high school-based health centers
Teen pregnancy prevention programs	Sexual activity	Reduce unintended pregnancy	Some Evidence	Support school-, community-, and clinic-based teen pregnancy prevention programs such as comprehensive sex education, HIV/STI prevention and youth development efforts, service learning, etc.