Answering “How Do I . . .?”: Questions When Teaching Puberty Education

Abstract

Puberty, the physical and sexual maturation process of a young person, is associated with cognitive, emotional, and psychosocial changes. Puberty is a key time for health education and health promotion interventions, and school is an important setting for developmentally appropriate, evidence-based puberty education for all students. School nurses, with their clinical understanding of growth and development and patient and family education skills, are qualified and uniquely positioned to advocate for and assist in delivery of puberty education in the schools. However, school nurses may not have received any formal instruction in puberty education content or on classroom teaching as part of their training. This can put the school nurse at a disadvantage and is a gap this article intends to address. Therefore, a team of school health content and technology experts developed a free, online learning module-based puberty education training resource to answer some common puberty education questions.