Sex education: Knowledge, comfort, motivation, and involvement of elementary school teachers in São Paulo, Brazil ; Educación sexual: Conocimiento, comodidad, motivación e involucramiento de los maestros de la escuela primaria en São Paulo, Brasil ; Educação sexual: Conhecimento, conforto, motivação e envolvimento de professores do ensino fundamental de São Paulo, Brasil

The degree of knowledge, comfort, motivation, and involvement of elementary school teachers in promoting sex education (SE) in schools must be evaluated by considering their age, initial academic foundation in SE, and religious beliefs. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 396 teachers in Brazil, most of whom were women (77.53%) and Catholic (47.73%). The data revealed moderate knowledge, high comfort, high motivation, and insufficient involvement in pedagogical practice, but sufficient as pedagogical function. No relationship was observed between the teachers’ age and their initial academic education for the variables analyzed, but religious beliefs influenced all the variables except for comfort. Teachers presented moderate knowledge regarding legislation and ministerial guidelines on SE and high comfort and motivation in approaching the theme of SE. The study found moderate practical involvement in specific SE actions, and the teachers agreed that it was their responsibility to be involved. Religious beliefs significantly affected the variables studied. This study expands the theme of SE beyond purely biological and preventive aspects. Regarding education, it contributes to research by generating attitudinal and behavioral data in addition to exclusively qualitative ones, bridging the gap between health and education. ; El grado de conocimiento, comodidad, motivación e involucramiento de los docentes de primaria en la promoción de la educación sexual (ES) en la escuela debe evaluarse considerando su edad, formación académica inicial en ES y creencias religiosas. Se realizó un estudio transversal con 396 profesores en Brasil, la mayoría mujeres (77.53%) y católicos (47.73%). Los datos revelaron conocimiento moderado, alta comodidad, alta motivación e implicación insuficiente en la práctica pedagógica pero suficiente como función pedagógica. No se observó relación entre la edad de los docentes y su formación académica inicial para las variables analizadas, pero las creencias religiosas impactaran en ...