Addressing the gaps: a mixed-methods scoping review on comprehensive sexuality education training for school educators

Introduction: Comprehensive sexuality education is an educational approach that addresses the cognitive, emotional, physical and social aspects of sexuality. When taught consistently and age-appropriately, it expands survival, health and life benefits for young people everywhere. To provide an efficient, comprehensive sexuality education curriculum, educators must be equipped with proper training. Objective: This scoping review aimed to map and identify research gaps in the existing literature on educators’ training in comprehensive sexuality education, examine facilitators and barriers to training and curriculum implementation, and highlight areas requiring further investigation. Methods: A comprehensive search of six academic databases was conducted, followed by a mixed-methods approach to analyse the data. Narrative synthesis and data mapping were used to analyse study characteristics for all the included studies. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse quantitative data and thematic analysis guided by an inductive approach was used to analyse common themes and sub-themes for qualitative data. Results: A total of 74 studies (qualitative n=31; quantitative n=24; mixed methods n=19) were included in this review. The results of this review found that preservice educator training to be the most effective training approach. Additionally, results found that the best training duration is context-dependent but should incorporate a combination of in-person and online training methods that include follow-up technical support strategies. Conclusions: Due to the regional disparities identified in this review, future research needs to focus on the Eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia regions. The findings of this scoping review provide researchers with evidence-based knowledge to make practical recommendations for an efficient comprehensive sexuality education training programme for educators while addressing barriers to training, as well as facilitators and barriers to implementation.