No abstract

No abstract

Background: Improved access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and information is essential for supporting adolescents and youth in making informed decisions and optimizing each young person's outcomes related to their SRH, health and well-being and countries' current and future social and economic development. Mobile phones offer opportunities for young people to privately access SRH content and to be linked to SRH services. The objective of this study was to develop the content for an SMS (short message service or "text message") platform jointly with adolescents and youth in three regions in Peru (Lima, Ayacucho and Loreto) as part of the ARMADILLO (Adolescent/Youth Reproductive Mobile Access and Delivery Initiative for Love and Life Outcomes) Study. Methods: Content development was done in three stages. During Stage 1, we held community consultations with 13-17 year old adolescents, 18-24 year old youth and professionals who work with young people through the education and health sectors ("adult advisers") to identify and rate SRH topics of interest through group free-and guided-brainstorming activities and an individual written sharing activity. During Stage 2, the team developed the preliminary domains, sub-domains and content for the SMS platform. During Stage 3, we held focus groups with adolescents to validate the SMS content, including both individual scoring of and group feedback for each SMS. Group feedback asked about their general impressions and understanding and their thoughts about the language and usefulness of the SMS. Results: A total of 172 adolescents and youth ages 13-24 and 20 adult advisers participated. Adolescents and youth brainstormed and rated SRH topics and sub-topics that led to the initial structure for the SMS platform, with 9 domains, 25 sub-domains and 146 draft SMS. Adolescents provided high scores for the SMS, with all sub-domains receiving average scores of 3.0 or higher (out of 4.0) for the SMS included. Adolescents also provided suggestions to optimize content, including improvements to unclear messages, resulting in SMS with adolescent-friendly content in simple, straightforward language. This process also revealed that adolescents lacked knowledge and had misconceptions related to contraceptive methods.

No abstract

Despite restrictive social norms,there is increasing evidence that youth in India engage in premarital romantic and sexual partnerships.However,information on how they initiate and build these relationships is scarce, even though it is vital for addressing the needs of young people. METHODS: Attitudes toward and behavior within romantic partnerships were examined using data collected in 2004 from unmarried youth (583 males and 475 females,aged 15-19) living in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Delhi,India.Associations between specific attitudes or behaviors and age,gender and sexual experience were determined using Fisher's exact tests. RESULTS: Sixty-two percent of males and 53% of females reported that someone of the opposite sex had expressed an interest in them; 86% of males and 63% of females reported feeling good about it.In addition,67% of males and 47% of females reported that they liked someone from the opposite sex.Compared with females,males were more likely to seek information about the person they were interested in (76% vs.61%),and to engage in heterosexual premarital sex (32% vs.6%).Females were less likely than males to report that it is okay to engage in premarital sex if the male and female love one another (14% vs.33%).For both males and females,television and films were the most popular source of information on issues related to sexual health. CONCLUSIONS: Gender disparities in premarital romantic partnership formation and the experience of sexual relations make a strong case for sexuality education programs tailored to the different experiences and circumstances of young men and women.