Objective To examine the awareness of reproductive knowledge and to evaluate intervention effect of health education on sexual and reproductive knowledge among middle school students in Shanghai city.

Methods We recruited students in 4 middle school in Shanghai city using multistage random cluster sampling and assigned the students into an intervention group and a control group. Then we conducted baseline and final surveys with a self-designed questionnaire among all the participants before and after a 4-month education program on sexual and reproductive health (including lectures, material distribution, psychological consultation, and communication with social media) only in the intervention group. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze collected data.

Results Totally 795 students (406 in intervention group and 389 in control group) were self-administered with the questionnaire for the baseline survey from January to March 2015 and 745 (362 in intervention group and 383 in control group) for the final survey from September to December 2015. At the baseline survey, the proportion of the students with the passing score and above for knowledge about sexual and reproductive health was 54.93% for the intervention and 58.87% for the control group, without significant difference (χ² = 1.26, P = 0.26); but at the final survey, the proportion was significantly higher for the intervention group than that for the control group (72.93% vs. 55.61%, χ² = 26.70; P < 0.01). The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the intervention program, living style and monthly household income per capita were the influencing factors of the score for knowledge about sexual and reproductive health.

Conclusion The intervention program on sexual and reproductive health improved the awareness of related knowledge among middle school students and is of great significance to promote sexual and reproductive health among the adolescents.