Sex in the Swamp 2018 Evaluation

Sex in the Swamp has, off and on, served as an annual spring break safety fair at UF since the 1990's. ESG officially brought the event back in 2016 and it was a heavily anticipated and attended event! The event contains a 'SEX'pert panel, community educational booths (outside organizations that provided sexual health education), ESG educational booths (student members that provided spring break and general safety tips), a condom design challenge, and giveaways as incentives. 

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In previous years, the event was not consistently evaluated. Along with Dr. Varnes, Tyler James and I evaluated the participant and community experience while Amber Dellich evaluated the ESG student experience. Tyler James and I conducted a process and impact evaluation via survey instruments to determine UF student's attitudes, knowledge and beliefs related to health topics, with an emphasis on sexual health education. We evaluated the results and presented them to stakeholders to track changes in students and to utilize the results for improvements in future programs. These surveys will be used annually to track behavior changes and grow the program. 

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Following the success of the event, Tyler James, Dr. Varnes and I submitted our results for the 2019 SOPHE Poster Abstract competition. Tyler and I surfed as equal contribution first authors. It's current title is:  James, T. G.*, Meeks, K. R.*, & Varnes, J. R. (2019, March). Process Evaluation of Sex in the Swamp: A student-led sexual health and spring break safety fair.

*Denotes equal contribution. 

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