Young Men’s Health Program Evaluation

The Outcomes

Our evaluations of the LAUSD’s testicular cancer prevention program included over 3,000 students and 22 teachers.

The evaluations found statistically significant, positive changes in testicular health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, and ways to improve the program.

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) HIV/AIDS Prevention Unit contracted with Sentient Research to evaluate the Male Health: Testicular Cancer curriculum for LAUSD high school students. The program curriculum focuses on testicular health knowledge, including symptoms, risk factors, and prevention; attitudes toward testicular self-examination; self-efficacy regarding self-examination; and self-examination behavior.

 We created a survey instrument based on the LAUSD program curriculum, as well as a teacher survey to measure program satisfaction and areas for improvement. Students completed the baseline survey before beginning the program and a follow-up survey once the program ended. Teachers took an evaluation survey immediately after completing implementation of the program.

We evaluated two separate implementations of the program. The first evaluation in 2017 included over 1,300 students and 12 teachers at seven high schools. The second occurred in 2018, with over 1,600 students and 13 teachers at 10 high schools.

The Male Health program evaluation revealed many statistically significant, positive changes regarding testicular health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, including performing a testicular self-examination in the past month.

Results were consistently positive across both evaluations. Our analysis of the survey data found many statistically significant, positive changes among students in regard to health protective behaviors, attitudes, and knowledge. Significant improvements were seen in: knowledge of risk factors for testicular cancer, symptoms, and how often males should self-examine; how to perform a self-examination; attitudes toward self-examination; self-efficacy around self-examination and discussing testicular cancer with a health provider; and actually performing a self-examination in the past month (for male students).

Teachers reported high program satisfaction and acceptability with the Male Health: Testicular Cancer program. They reported that the curriculum was effective and informative, and plan to continue using it in the future. Suggestions for improvement included shortening specific lessons or activities, incorporating statistics for Latino students, and using transgender-inclusive language.