%0 Generic
%9 Master's Thesis
%A Cook, Clayborne
%D 2019
%F pittir:36294
%K sexuality education, youth, Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Moldova, Estonia
%T School-based sexuality education in the former Soviet Union: Moldova's approach and how it compares to Estonia's international model
%U http://d-scholarship-dev.library.pitt.edu/36294/
%X Moldova and Estonia are two countries in close geographic proximity with historically similar pasts, yet drastically different youth sexual and reproductive health outcomes. While Estonia has managed to forge an internationally-praised school-based sexuality education program, effectively promote safe sexual behaviors, and reduce unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV among young people, Moldova’s attempts have been largely unsuccessful. Although school-based sexuality education in Moldovan primary and secondary schools is considered a mandatory subject by law, it remains primarily optional in practice and reaches only a small fraction of school-aged children. In addition, the Moldovan sexuality education program is fraught with a myriad of logistical inadequacies related to curriculum content, teacher training, and monitoring and evaluation, among others. Given the well-evidenced successes of the program in Estonia and the characteristics the country shares with Moldova, it presents an exemplary model for identifying necessary revisions to the Moldovan sexuality education program as a mechanism for ameliorating sexual and reproductive health outcomes among youth. In essence, this thesis provides a timely assessment of school-based sexuality education in these two countries and offers corresponding recommendations for the reform and improvement of the program in Moldova.