A Qualitative Investigation of the Bradford Speakeasy Sex Education Programme

A research project was commissioned by the Sexual Health Team at Bradford Metropolitan District Council. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Bradford Speakeasy programme from a parent perspective regarding knowledge, confidence and increased communication within families. The research also aimed to examine if the staff delivering the programme had the knowledge, skills and confidence when providing the contents of the course. Thematic analysis was used to ascertain the aims of the research. Results from the qualitative data showed that knowledge acquisition of all parents increased through attending the Bradford Speakeasy course. The increase in knowledge resulted in parents becoming more confident and therefore feeling more at ease communicating both sex education topics and sexual health with their own children. Parents were also keen to ensure that their children had better sex education than they themselves had received; and, that their children had the knowledge to keep themselves safe from abuse and exploitation. Further investigation revealed that staff delivering the Bradford Speakeasy course had the knowledge, skills and confidence to deliver the programme to parents. In addition, the programme was found to help trained facilitators communicating sex education and sexual health topics with their own children. Although the Bradford Speakeasy programme has paved the way for increasing sexual knowledge, increased confidence and improved communication between parents and their children future recommendations are: • Deliver refresher courses so parents can add to their knowledge as their children develop; • The Bradford Speakeasy programme should run for longer than eight weeks so it can include more topics that are specific to age, gender, religion and disabilities; • Promote the Bradford Speakeasy programme outside schools and local children’s centres so more parents can access, and benefit from the course. Limitations of the evaluation are that the research was only carried out in the district of Bradford. Furthermore, the majority of the research with parents only included the views of mothers. The latter can be overcome by encouraging more fathers to attend the next cohort of the Bradford Speakeasy programme.