Evaluating the Sharing Stories youth theatre program: an interactive theatre and drama-based strategy for sexual health promotion among multicultural youth
Meagan Roberts A D , Roanna Lobo B and Anne Sorenson CA Sexual Health and Blood-borne Virus Program, Department of Health, 227 Stubbs Terrace, Shenton Park, WA 6008, Australia.
B Collaboration of Evidence, Research and Impact in Public Health, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, WA 6845, Australia.
C Southern Edge Arts, PO Box 1367, Albany, WA 6331, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: meagan.roberts@health.wa.gov.au
Health Promotion Journal of Australia 28(1) 30-36 https://doi.org/10.1071/HE15096
Submitted: 6 August 2015 Accepted: 18 April 2016 Published: 27 June 2016
Journal Compilation © Australian Health Promotion Association 2017 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND
Abstract
Issue addressed: Rates of sexually transmissible infections among young people are high, and there is a need for innovative, youth-focused sexual health promotion programs. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Sharing Stories youth theatre program, which uses interactive theatre and drama-based strategies to engage and educate multicultural youth on sexual health issues. The effectiveness of using drama-based evaluation methods is also discussed.
Methods: The youth theatre program participants were 18 multicultural youth from South East Asian, African and Middle Eastern backgrounds aged between 14 and 21 years. Four sexual health drama scenarios and a sexual health questionnaire were used to measure changes in knowledge and attitudes.
Results: Participants reported being confident talking to and supporting their friends with regards to safe sex messages, improved their sexual health knowledge and demonstrated a positive shift in their attitudes towards sexual health. Drama-based evaluation methods were effective in engaging multicultural youth and worked well across the cultures and age groups.
Conclusions: Theatre and drama-based sexual health promotion strategies are an effective method for up-skilling young people from multicultural backgrounds to be peer educators and good communicators of sexual health information. Drama-based evaluation methods are engaging for young people and an effective way of collecting data from culturally diverse youth.
So what?: This study recommends incorporating interactive and arts-based strategies into sexual health promotion programs for multicultural youth. It also provides guidance for health promotion practitioners evaluating an arts-based health promotion program using arts-based data collection methods.
Key words: arts-based strategies, CALD, culturally and linguistically diverse, evaluation, peer education.
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