University of Virginia Library

Nursing Students
Plan Sex Survey

By ROBERT HUSBANDS

Sexual behavior and
contraceptive practices of the
unmarried female
undergraduate student will be
the subject of a survey to be
conducted in February by
three fourth-year nursing
students.

The students will send a
questionnaire to all
undergraduate women
immediately after semester
break. Results will be strictly
confidential and will be
handled through a coding
system to ensure anonymity.

Nursing students Karin A.
Hancher, Sallie A. Turner and
Sue L. Winstead are basing
their study on a similar survey
conducted at the University of
Aberdeen, Scotland.

The University project is the
first such survey conducted in
the United States using an
entire group rather than a
random sample, according to
project adviser Dr. U.G. Turner
III.

The Student Health
Department of Obstetrics and
Gynecology is backing the
project, which received
Student Council endorsement
Tuesday night. Dr. Kitty
Seamen is an additional adviser
to the project.

Miss Turner said the
surveys "will identify the
needs of the female
undergraduate. I hate to see
fellow women getting
pregnant, getting abortions,
and dropping out of school,"
she added.

"Through education,
counseling and student health
services, we hope to end
unwanted pregnancies," she
said.

Student Health
gynecological services are
inadequate," Miss Turner
declared. "It is now impossible
to get an appointment with a
gynecologist before March."

The survey will obtain
statistics which may improve
current services, Miss Turner
said. She mentioned the
possibilities of additional
funding, perhaps to hire
another gynecologist.

Miss Winstead said six
questions would appear on the
survey, requesting the woman's
age, school year, father's
occupation, and number of
times she has recently engaged
in sexual intercourse.

The survey will also ask
whether the partner was a
fiance, a steady partner, a new
but serious partner, a single
casual partner, or whether
there was more than one
partner.

Other questions will
concern types of
contraceptives used, if any, and
if the female was pregnant, the
outcome of the pregnancy.
This question will also ask
whether an abortion had been
obtained, whether the female
had the child and released it
for adoption, or whether the
female kept her child.

Students having questions
about the survey may call Miss
Turner at 924-2935.