Many high school students in the District of Columbia are not impressed with its sex education curriculum and see school nurses as untrustworthy, suggests a recently concluded survey. The city-funded Youth Sexual Health Project conducted 10 focus groups with about 250 D.C. high school students between April and October. Results from the survey were presented at the Oct. 21 meeting of the D.C. Council Committee on Health.

Among the students surveyed, girls in particular were too suspicious or embarrassed to talk with school nurses about sex or the need for condoms. "It's like talking to your mom," said one student. Students also felt the nurses were "judgmental and untrustworthy," and so were unlikely to seek their advice. A small sample size means the results cannot be generalized to the District's broader 12,000-student high school population.

Some of the students felt the sexual health curriculum does not address real-life situations, such as how to talk with a partner who constantly wants unprotected sex. Female students were afraid to carry condoms for fear of being labeled promiscuous.

The students held in low esteem the Durex condom brand, which the Health Department distributes under a contract, and preferred instead Trojan or Magnum. They also believed Durex condoms were more likely to break. The students "have very strong opinions about particular brands of condoms," wrote the researchers. "These opinions. factually correct or not, play an important role in a youth's decision to use a product."

The school system has one nurse for every 245 students, and a small focus group of nurses found that many have little time to counsel students. Nonetheless, their contract requires nurses to promote sexual health programs.