Sexual Health Scholars Program
October 2010 - March 2011
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Application Deadline: September 12, 2010
Sexual Health Scholars Program Overview:
AMSA firmly believes in comprehensive sexual education for people throughout the life cycle. As such, it is crucial that medical students be taught about sexual health and sexual dysfunction in order to effectively treat and teach their patients. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that in 1999, of US adults between the ages of 18-59, 43% of women and 31% of men experience sexual problems. Sexual problems included problems with desire, arousal, orgasm, or pain and were often secondary to other medical conditions. Left untreated, sexual problems appear to have an association with decreased quality of life, depression, interpersonal conflicts, and frequently lead to patient noncompliance with medications. Despite this high prevalence of sexual dysfunction among U.S. adults, many physicians feel inadequately prepared to manage sexual problems and support healthy sexualities, largely because they have not received sufficient training. Indeed, most medical schools do not yet provide a comprehensive curriculum in sexual and reproductive health.
Last year, AMSA launched the National Sexual Health Scholars Program to begin to address the lack of attitudes, knowledge, and skills training of American medical students in sexual health education. We are pleased to announce that we are now taking applications to participate in the second annual Sexual Health Scholars Program. The online course, which will run October - March, will include lectures by experts, discussions among participants, various media, and collaborative projects. We hope this program will help participants gain knowledge and skills toward encouraging healthy sexualities and managing sexual concerns, and that participants will use these tools to teach others.
Selection Criteria:
The Sexual Health Scholars will be a small and versatile group of passionate individuals with different interests, experiences, and levels of knowledge of sexual health. Approximately twenty qualified and motivated scholars will be accepted to the program.
- Selection of participants is based on merit and not ability to pay.
- Availability: We are especially interested in students who are both motivated to fully participate in this rigorous academic program and who have availability in their schedule to do so. We believe that participants will benefit most from this intensive approach, but we also recognize that students have other important and competing academic and extracurricular interests and activities.
- Team Player: A desire to engage with and contribute to the group is essential. The program will foster an online community for students to work together and with experts in order to gain new perspectives, knowledge, and clinical skills.
- Innovation in Education: Students who have the curiosity to ask why the status quo exists and the creativity to challenge it in productive ways. Students who want to share their newfound knowledge with their colleagues.
- We do NOT ask for experience in sexual health work or education. It's great if you have it, great if you don't. We are more interested in your enthusiasm, willingness to learn, and time commitment.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this institute, participants will be able to:
Knowledge
- To recognize the historical context of sexuality research
- Restate functional purposes of sexual anatomy components in men and women
- Compare, contrast, and evaluate different models of human sexuality and sexual response
- Analyze different meanings of "sex"
- Define medical and "slang" sexual and reproductive terminology
- Describe important aspects of sexual health needs of different populations, including, but not limited to, different age groups, LGBT individuals, and patients with chronic illnesses
- Describe common sexual concerns and basic treatment options
- Describe evidence behind certain contraceptive technology, including IUDs
Skills
- Propose ways to increase sexual self-esteem in different situations
- Conduct an extensive sexual history interview
- Appropriately tailor sexual history interviews to different age groups
- Screen for sexual assault and domestic violence
- Recognize when a physician can treat an illness and when to refer to a specialist.
- Teach fellow students about sexual health concepts through problem-based learning
- Create a sexual health project that can be utilized by other students interested in presenting a sexual health topic to classmates and others.
Attitudes
- Analyze one's own biases related to sexuality and examine ways to confront, work with, and/or overcome these biases.
- Examine the interplay between relationships, love, and family.
- Examine certain viewpoints of sex and sexuality within various religions.
- Examine the role of health care providers in treating sexual problems and promoting healthy sexualities.
- Examine the role of medical education in preparing physicians to treat sexual problems and promote health sexualities.
Tentative Curriculum
Our curriculum is primarily based on an extensive curriculum recently developed by the Center for Excellence in Sexual Health at Morehouse School of Medicine. Last year's curriculum included the following topics. The curriculum will be revised for this year, but this should provide you with a general idea of types of topics discussed.
- Importance of Sexual Health & History of Sexual Research
- Sexual History Taking and Values Exercise debriefing
- Sex & Language; Models of Sexuality
- Sexual and Reproductive Physiology and Anatomy: Pro-Body Approach
- Body Image, Self Esteem, and Sexual Self Esteem
- Sexuality Across the Lifespan
- The Internet is for Porn: Sexuality and the Internet
- Common Sexual Concerns and Treatments
- Medical Education and Sexual Health
- Sexuality, Disability, and Illness
- Sex is Fun!: Normalizing "alternative" sexual practices
- Sexuality, Culture, and Religion
- Relationships, Love, and Family
- Hot Topics in Fertility, Pregnancy, and Contraception
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health
- Topics in STIs
- Sexual Abuse and IPV
- Sex Workers: A Domestic and International Perspective
- Final project presentations
Participant Expectations
- Students are expected to participate in all seminars. If a student cannot attend one of the classes, the student is expected to inform the program coordinators of the expected absence. Students with more than three unexcused absences will be asked to leave the program.
- Students are asked to remain open-minded and respectful of other views. Students are asked to actively participate in all discussions.
- Students are expected to complete all homework assignments before class begins. Homework may include articles, media clips, short reflective pieces, etc.
- Students are expected to complete a final “project-in-a-box." (More information under "Logistics")
- Student participants will be highly encouraged to attend the AMSA National Convention, March 11-13, 2011, in Washington DC. We are planning some activities at the convention, as this will be the only time during the program in which SHSP participants meet in person.
Logistics
Application Dates
- Applications are due: Sunday, September 12th
- Phone interviews will be conducted the week of: September 20th
- Acceptance into the program will be emailed the same week. You will have three days to decide whether to participate in the program.
Program Dates
- The program will run from early October – early March.
- SHSP will not meet the week of Thanksgiving or over winter break.
- The course generally alternates between large group sessions and small group sessions, each 2 hours.
o Large group sessions will be held on Tuesdays, 9-11 PM EST/6-8 PM PST.
o Small group sessions will be scheduled according to the availability of your small group.
Learning Platform
The course will largely be conducted via webinar, an online-based learning platform. You will need access to either phone or audio on your computer. We would prefer if you have access to a computer video camera. Many computers come equipped and they are also often available in your school's media resource center.
Homework
Homework will usually consist of articles, media clips, short story, or reflection.
Final Project
Students will complete a final project that will advocate for improved sexuality education in medicine, either through imparting knowledge about a particular sexual health topic or through directly engaging with institutions that make medical curricular decisions. The final project can be a “Project in a Box” about a sexual health topic of your choice, which will be available on the AMSA website for use by students at their own schools. Examples of excellent final projects by previous scholars are posted here.
Course credit
Several students have received elective credit from their schools for this course. While AMSA unfortunately cannot grant elective credit at this time, we are happy to support you with documentation that will aid you as you seek elective credit.
Fees
Participation fee is $30. Applicants who are selected to participate will be expected to pay this fee in full by November 1, 2010. Program fees will be used to offset the costs of developing the education program, including resource materials. AMSA will work with you to help you obtain funding from your school and other organizations if you need assistance with the tuition. A textbook will be assigned, which will cost approximately $50 (e-book) to $120 (new). (Cheaper used versions are on sale on Amazon.com).
Participants in any scholars programs must be AMSA members, although one may apply without being an AMSA member.
Please contact us if you are worried about the financial obligations; we do not want to turn anyone away for financial reasons.