Can a school health club-based intervention significantly influence the drivers of gendered sexual norms and ideologies among in-school adolescents in southeast Nigeria?

Individual experiences, social policies, and environmental exposure shape beliefs, norms and ideologies about sexuality. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a school health club training programme in improving adolescents’ knowledge and perceptions of gender norms and ideologies about sexuality. This was an intervention study among in-school adolescent boys and girls in 12 secondary schools in Ebonyi State, southeast Nigeria. The intervention was the establishment of school health clubs in six schools (intervention), while the six other schools served as controls that did not have school health clubs. Data was collected using a pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to analyse the data. More than half of the adolescents in the intervention (58.3%) and non-intervention (56.1%) schools believed that men need sex more than women. About 90% of adolescents in school (in both arms) agreed that both boys and girls should remain virgins until marriage. Majority of adolescents in both intervention and non-intervention schools disagreed with the notion that “it is justifiable for a boy to hit his girlfriend”. Female gender (OR: 1.6; CI 1.1-2.4), senior secondary school level (OR: 1.6; CI 1.0-2.5), and urban residence (OR: 1.7; CI: 1.1-2.5) were associated with the perception that boys do not respect girls who agree to have sex with them. Working for pay decreases the likelihood of having the perception that girls should remain virgin until they marry (OR: 0.4; CI: 0.2-0.9), while living in the urban area increases the likelihood of having the perception that boys should remain virgins until marriage (OR: 2.1; 1.1-4.1). Female gender (OR: 0.7; CI: 0.5-1.0) and urban residence (OR: 0.6; 0.4-0.9) decrease the likelihood of having the perception that men need sex more frequently than women do. In the intervention arm, female gender was associated with perception that boys do not respect girls who agree to have sex with them (OR: 2.4; CI: 1.3-4.3) while older age was associated with the perception that men need sex more frequently than women in the intervention arm (OR:1.2; CI:1.0-1.4). No predictor was found in the non-intervention arm. Although both intervention and non-intervention arms had positive perceptions of gendered sexual norms and ideologies, a school health club-based intervention could influence the drivers of these norms.