Teaching sex education improves medical students' confidence in dealing with sexual health issues.

Medical students at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland can volunteer to participate in an undergraduate options project that gives them the opportunity to provide sex education for secondary school (high school) pupils. Using a questionnaire presenting a set of fictional case histories, we assessed medical students' theoretical confidence at dealing with sexual health consultations. Students who had participated in delivering peer-led sex education felt significantly more confident at discussing sexual health issues with patients of all age groups (p = 0.