Date of Award

August 2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counseling Psychology & Community Services

First Advisor

Kara Wettersten

Abstract

The current study sought to qualitatively explore sex educator's beliefs about sexual consent and how it is included in their sex education curricula. Additionally, how sex educators perceived their sexual education curricula and, more specifically how their students responded to information regarding sexual consent, were explored. Overall, the goal of the current study was to better understand the experiences and attitudes held by sex educators in Upper Midwestern schools regarding sexual consent information in their sex education courses, and their perceptions of what role community attitudes have on the teaching of sexual consent. This study utilized a grounded theory methodology (Charmaz, 2014) where participants completed a semi- structured interview. Participant interviews resulted in themes and categories which together informed the development of an applied consent model categorized by the following: Skill-based consent, somatic consent, consent independent of a sexual context, and the differentiation between sexual assault and non- teachings was influenced by the following: Educator training/previous experience, community resistance and support, parental permission, and inconsistencies in curriculum. Due to limitations related to trustworthiness, participant recruitment, and the need to expand interview questions to sexual consent in the context of substances other than alcohol, future research is needed.

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