What Makes a Difference? Various Teaching Strategies to Reduce Homophobia in University Students

This study sought to determine how effective lectures, discussion, small group problem-solving, explicit films, and a gay-lesbian panel might be in reducing homophobia. At five selected times during a human sexuality course, three Instruments were administered measuring attitudes toward gays and lesbians, same-sex sexual and affectional behavior, and the self-esteem of student respondents. No one teaching strategy emerged as superior to any other but, rather, all yielded decreased scores on homophobia and increased scores on self-esteem over the course.