Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) School-Based Assessment

social studies

Name: Teresha Orgill

Canidate Number:
Center name: Papine high school
Center number: 1000090
Teacher’s name: Mrs. Whyte green

Topic: The level of awareness amongst young adults about sexually transmitted diseases.
Date: August 2022-2023
Table of content:

Title page…………………3
Acknowledgment……......4
Statement of the problem...5
Reason for selecting the topic….6
Method of investigation……...7
Instrument used to collect data….8
Procedure used to collect data…...9
Presentation of data…….10
Analysis/Interpretation of data……….11
Findings……….12
Recommendations…….13
Appendix/Appendices........14
Reference...................15
Title page:

The level of awareness amongst young adults about sexually transmitted diseases.
Acknowledgment:

First, I would like to express my most sincere and earnest gratitude to God, who makes all things possible. I
would also like to acknowledge the support and encouragement from my parents. Without their encouragement
and understanding of the time and effort needed to complete this School Based Assessment (SBA), it would not
have been completed successfully within the required time range that it was due. Lastly, I would like to extend
my sincere gratitude to my lovely, brilliant teacher, Mrs. Whyte Green, who assisted me very well throughout
my process of completion. She ensured that everything was done smoothly throughout the research.
Statement of the problem:

What is the level of awareness among young adults in my community about sexually transmitted diseases?
Reason for selecting area of research:

The researcher chose this topic to find out how aware young adults are about sexually transmitted diseases.
This topic was also chosen because it is one of my community’s main problems, thus an investigation must be
carried out to discover whether or not the young adults of my community are aware of sexually transmitted
diseases.
The researcher has overheard many community members talking about young adults not using protection or
getting proper advice about sex before being engaged in sexual activities and that many young adults have
contracted STDs and are now worried about themselves. The researcher has also observed that some of these
young adults are aware of these STDs, but they don't care and still get involved in unprotected sexual activities.
As a result, the researcher was urged to find out how high the level of awareness among young adults in my
community is about sexually transmitted diseases.
Method of investigation:

The method of investigation that will be used for this SBA is a questionnaire. A questionnaire is a means of
communication for gathering data that is devised for the purpose of statistical studies. Questionnaires have
many advantages, and they also have a few disadvantages. Two advantages of a questionnaire are that it is a
good and easy way to collect data and helps with easy data analysis through organized questions. A
disadvantage of a questionnaire is that it is not clear enough for the respondents; they will not understand and
will change their minds about doing the questionnaire. The questionnaire will consist of 15 closed-ended
questions.
Instrument of data collection:

Cover letter

Westphalia District,
Mavis bank P.O.
St. Andrew
September 16, 2022,

Dear Participants,
The researcher is a fifth-form student, who will be sitting her social studies CXC examination in May
2023. I am expected to carry out a research which you will accommodate. The researcher is asking for your
cooperation in participating and truthfully answering the questions that will follow in the questionnaire. Your
answers will be confidential, and your names won't be needed.

Thank you for your kind cooperation.

Yours respectfully,
Teresha Orgill.
Procedure used to collect data:

The method that was used to collect the data was a questionnaire. The questionnaire was for research on how
many young adults are aware of sexually transmitted diseases. Young adults in my community indulge in
unprotected sexual activities with zero to about 10% awareness about STDs and those who are aware don't take
the time out to protect themselves from known STDs or to let someone else be aware of them.
On the 16th of November 2022, in the district of Westphalia, the researcher took the afternoon to hand out
her questionnaires to young adults who were passing by her grandparents' shop. These participants were
randomly chosen and were politely asked if they could complete a questionnaire in aid of her SBA research.
Eleven females and nine males between the ages of 18 to 32 were chosen.
Twenty questionnaires were given out and the participants were given fifteen minutes to complete them. All
questionnaires were completed and handed back to the researcher before the fifteen minutes ended.
Presentation of data:

Question 1: sex

Figure 1:
Question 2: Age group

Figure 2:
Question 3: How long have you been living in the community?

Figure 3:
Question 4: What is your understanding of sexually transmitted diseases?

Figure 4:
Question 5: What are the types of STDs that you are aware of?

Figure 5 is a table showing the number of respondents aware of each STD and all STDs.

Name of STDs Number of respondents who are aware of each STD.

Aids/HIV 10

Gonorrhea 3

Chlamydia 0

Syphilis 4

HPV 0

Genital herpes 1

Pubic lice 2

Total 20
Question 6: What is your level of awareness of sexually transmitted diseases?

Figure 6:
Question 11: What are the symptoms you are aware of from contracting an STD?

Figure 7:
Table showing the awareness of the different symptoms for the listed STDs.

Symptoms given Number of respondents who are aware of each

symptom.

Genital pain 6

Foul odor 4

Genital sores 7

Not sure 3

Total 20
Question 12: Who do you think is more at risk of becoming infected with a Std?
Figure 8:
Question 13: What are the consequences of STDs that you are aware of?

Figure 9:

Table showing the awareness related to the consequences of STDs.

Consequences of an STD Number of respondents that are aware of each

infertility 1

death 8

Severe rashes 9

Cancer 2

Total 20
Question 14: Do you agree that every possible measure is taken to inform young adults about the different types
of STDs and their symptoms?

Figure 10:
Table displaying the views of respondents on what is done to inform youths about STDs.

Responses Number of respondents

Strongly agree 2

Agree 10

Strongly disagree 1

Disagree 5

Not sure 2

Total 20
Question 15: How do you think the government can help to prevent the spreading of
STDs?

Figure 11:
Table displaying the number of respondents who choose each suggested prevention
suggestion in question 15.

Responses Number of respondents

Giving vaccinations 7
Encouraging mutual monogamy 1
Encouraging the use of condom 6
Making sure teens abstain from sex 6
Total 20
Analysis of data

To find out the level of awareness among young adults, the survey was conducted in the community of
Mavis Bank. The total amount of respondents was 20 of the respondents 55% were females (11 females) and
45% were males (9 males). Figure 2 shows that the highest number of respondents came from the age group of
18-22 (9 persons) and the second highest came from the age group of 23-27 (6 persons). in figure 3 it was
revealed that the number of individuals that have been living in the community since birth accounted for the
highest participants (9 participants) and the lowest lived in the community between 11-15 years (1 participant).
The data revealed that while there were respondents who believed that stds are contracted by oral and
physical sex (10%), majority (40%) of the respondents viewed Stds as a disease that is passed from one person
to another through sexual contact and the second highest accounted for (36.7%) of the respondents who were
not aware of what stds are. It can be concluded from figure 5, that out of 20 respondents majority (50%) were
more aware of aids/HIV as an std, than of chlamydia (0%) which accounted for 0 respondents.
Out of 20 respondents, 45% rated themselves average in being aware of the different types of stds, however
the remaining 55% rated themselves high which accounted for 35% of the respondents, 15% of respondents
who did not know how to rate themselves and the remaining 5% rated themselves low respectfully.
As concluded in figure 7, 35% chose genital sores when it came to the question “what are the symptoms you
are aware of?”, 30% chose genital pains and 20% chose foul odor. Figure 8 shows that half the respondents
chose both male and female and so each got 50% when asked “who do you is more at risk of contracting an
std”. The table in figure 10 displays the number of respondents that agree to the question “do you agree that
every possible measure is taken to inform young adults about stds”, (50%) agreed, (25%) disagreed, (10%)
strongly agreed and (10%) was not sure. Figure 11 is also a table that displays the number of respondents that
chose a prevention suggestion for question 15, 35% chose giving vaccines, 30% chose encouraging the use of
condoms, 30% of the respondents also chose ensuring that underaged persons abstain from sex and 5% chose
encouraging mutual monogamy.
Findings

I the researcher have found out that:

 Of the respondents, none were aware of chlamydia and hpv as shown in figure 5.
 It was concluded that most of the respondents were aware of genital sores which accounted for 35% of
the respondents, genital pains accounted for 30% and 20% chose foul odor, this implies that 85% of the
respondents know about the main symptoms of Stds.
 36.7% of the respondents were not sure what a std was, 23.3% chose an answer but not the correct
answer, which were virus causes stds and stds are infections. 40% chose the correct answer which was a
std is a disease passed down from one person to another through sexual contact.
 Out of 20 respondents only 40% are aware of what a std is, which accounted for 8 people.
Recommendation:
I the researcher recommend that:
 The government to have at least 1 seminar a month at schools and public places so that teens and young
adults can benefit from it by gaining knowledge about stds, their causes, symptoms and prevention.
 Making std testing mandatory every 3 months as a new health policy.
 Giving out condoms in clinics when young adults come for checkups or other purposes.
 Changing the age of consent from 16 to 18 due to the fact that teens are indulging in unprotected sex at a
young age and getting infected by a std 40% of the time.
Appendix
Data collection instrument:

Sexually transmitted diseases awareness questionnaire.

Instructions: Read each question carefully and answer each question to your knowledge and answer each
question truthfully. You are given (15) fifteen minutes to complete this questionnaire. (YOUR NAME IS NOT
NEEDED SO DO NOT WRITE YOUR NAME ON THE QUESTIONNAIRE.)

1. Sex:
▫ Male
▫ Female

2. Age group:
▫ 18-22
▫ 23-27
▫ 28-32

3. How long have you been living in the community?

▫ From birth
▫ 1-5 years
▫ 6-10 years
▫ 11-15 years

4. What is your understanding of sexually transmitted diseases?

▫ An STD is a disease passed down from one person to another through sexual contact.
▫ STDs are infections that are contracted from oral or physical sex.
▫ Viruses and bacteria cause STDs.
▫ Not sure
5. What are the types of STDs that you are most aware of? (CHOOSE ONLY 1 ANSWER)
▫ Aids/HIV
▫ Gonorrhea
▫ Chlamydia
▫ Syphilis
▫ HPV
▫ Genital herpes
▫ Pubic lice

6. What is your level of awareness on sexually transmitted diseases?

▫ High
▫ Low
▫ Average
▫ Not sure

7. Have you ever caught an STD?

▫ Yes
▫ No
▫ Not sure

8. How many times have you contracted an STD?

▫ Once
▫ Twice
▫ More than five times
▫ Never

9. Safe sex is sexual activity in which people take precautions to protect themselves against sexually
transmitted diseases such as aids and other STDs. Do you practice safe sex?
▫ Always
▫ Sometimes
▫ Never
▫ I cannot remember

10. Do you agree that having more than one sexual partner is good for your sexual health, whether the sex is
protected or unprotected?
▫ Agree
▫ Strongly agree
▫ Disagree
▫ Strongly disagree
▫ Not sure

11. What are the symptoms you are aware of from contracting an STD?
▫ Pain in the penis or vagina
▫ Foul odor
▫ Sores around or on the genital area
▫ Not sure

12. Who do you think is more at risk of becoming infected with an std, men or women?
▫ Men
▫ Women

13. What are the consequences of STDs that you are aware of?
▫ Infertility
▫ Death
▫ Severe rash
▫ Inflammatory diseases in the pelvis

14. Do you agree that every possible measure is taken to inform young adults about the different types of
STDs and their symptoms?
▫ Strongly agree
▫ Agree
▫ Strongly disagree
▫ Disagree
▫ Not sure

15. How do you think the government can help to prevent the spreading of Stds?
▫ Giving vaccinations
▫ Encouraging the use of condoms through commercials
▫ Encouraging mutual monogamy
▫ Making sure that persons under 18 are practicing abstinence
Reference

https://www.thewellproject.org/hiv-information/sexually-transmitted-infections-or-diseases-stis-or-stds
https://www.cdc.gov/std/general/default.htm#:~:text=What%20are%20STDs%3F,%2C%20oral%2C%20and
%20anal%20sex.