فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Background & aim: In Indonesia, premarital sex is currently a common concern among many sexual problems affecting adolescents. This study aimed to determine the effect of proactive cognitive game methods based on self-control theory on knowledge and premarital sexual behavior of adolescent girls. Methods: A total of 127 female adolescent students from two senior high schools in Surabaya City, Indonesia, were included in this quasi-experimental research. They were selected using simple random sampling and equally divided into two groups. The students received health education on premarital sexual behavior through a proactive cognitive game (intervention group) and lecture method (control group) in one session each for 60 minutes. Assessment of participants’ knowledge and premarital sexual behavior in two groups was performed using knowledge and premarital sexual behavior questionnaires before and three days after intervention. Data were analyzed by Wilcoxon signed-rank and Mann–Whitney test using SPSS version 26. Results: There was a significant difference in knowledge (game: P=0.000, lecture: P=0.003) and sexual behavior (game: P=0.000, lecture: P=0.000) between pre- and post-test. Moreover, there was a significant difference in knowledge (P=0.023) and sexual behavior changes (P=0.001) between the game and control groups. The game group showed more impact on improving participants’ knowledge and reducing sexual behavior than the control group. Conclusion: The proactive cognitive game intervantion was more effective in enhancing the knowledge of participants and reducing premarital sexual behavior than the lecture group. This game method is therefore recommended as a reference for health education to prevent premarital sexual behavior.