Is the Internet Filling the Sexual Health Information Gap for Teens? An Exploratory Study

Jones, Rachel K.; Biddlecom, Ann E.

doi:10.1080/10810730.2010.535112

Cited by 115 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…(40) The high reported level of trust in Aboriginal medical services (AMSs) reported by our participants echoes recent research with young Indigenous people (41) and suggests a change in attitudes, and possibly health service cultures since the 1990s when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents described avoiding AMSs for health care because of shame or embarrassment (42)(43)(44). Given the comparatively lower level of trust in internet-based sexual health information reported by our sample and in other surveys (45), the role of AMSs in providing sexual health education is endorsed (46). It is vital that safe sex messages and the value of regular testing are promoted by health services to increase the level of engagement by young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with sexual health.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Sexual risk and healthcare seeking behaviour in young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in North Queensland

et al. 2015

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Background: Compared to non-Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have higher rates of sexually transmitted infections (STI). We sought to identify the sexual risk and health care seeking behaviours service utilisation of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in a regional Australian setting. Methods: Cross-sectional survey of 155 young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (16 to 24 years) in Townsville. Results: Most participants (83%) reported ever having had sex with a median age of 15 years at first sex, ranging from 9 to 22 years. While young men reported more sexual partners in the last 12 months than young women, they were also more likely to report condom use at last casual sex (92% vs. 68%, p=0.006). Young women were significantly more likely than young men to report never carrying condoms (35% vs. 16%) however more likely to have had STI testing (53% vs. 28%, p=0.004). Of those reporting previous STI testing 29% reported ever being diagnosed with an STI. Conclusions: Our sample of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reported an early age at first sex, variable condom use, and low uptake of STI testing. The high prevalence of selfreported STI diagnoses indicate a need for opportunistic sexual health education and efforts designed to promote the uptake of STI screening in this group.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Sexual risk and healthcare seeking behaviour in young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in North Queensland

et al. 2015

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“…Jones and Biddlecom found that youth in New York make use of the internet to learn about issues such as abstinence and contraceptives. 6 However, the adolescents they interviewed expressed reservations about relying on the information on the internet due to messages differing, leading to doubts about content. This shows that youth feel a need to select messages carefully and this should be encouraged.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, although there are more and more teen-friendly websites frequented, many young people still do not use them despite their familiarity with the internet. 6 Almost none of our adolescent respondents made use of sexual and reproductive health information on the sites targeted at youth. Instead, they went into search engines such as Google, where they entered keywords and screened the websites that came up.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[6][7][8] These studies indicate that many young people still prefer traditional sources over the internet, including friends, family, or school. 6,7 The few studies published so far [9][10][11][12][13] have had mainly three foci: (1) analysis of social media use by "at-risk" groups such as adolescent parents, (2) approaches to targeting youth by sexual health intervention, and (3) impact assessments of online sexual and reproductive health messages on adolescents' knowledge, attitude and behaviour.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The use of social media among adolescents in Dar es Salaam and Mtwara, Tanzania

Pfeiffer¹,

Kleeb

Mbelwa

et al. 2014

Reproductive Health Matters

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“…30,31 There is disagreement on how valuable young people consider online sources of sexual health information, however, with some indication that many young heterosexual people from developed countries prefer traditional sources including friends, family, or school. 32,33 Research suggests that queer and same-sex attracted young people are more likely to rely on online information sources in learning about sexualities and sexual health.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“It would be weird to have that on Facebook”: young people's use of social media and the risk of sharing sexual health information

Byron¹,

Albury

Evers

2013

Reproductive Health Matters

101

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In today's media environment, information is not simply passed from producers to consumers, but is mediated by participants of new media cultures, including information on sexual health. In focus groups held in Sydney and regional Australia in 2011, we asked young people aged 16-22 about the potential for sexual health promotion via Facebook and other social media. Our findings point to the complex ways in which young people use social media, and the unlikelihood of traditional take-home sexual health messages having traction in social media spaces. Five key aspects which emerged were: the participatory culture of social network sites; the stigma of sexual health, especially sexually transmitted infections (STIs); young people's careful presentations of self; privacy concerns; and the importance of humour in sexual health messaging. Fears of bullying and gossip (or 'drama') were also likely to prevent the dissemination of sexual health messages in this environment. However, humorous online videos were noted by participants as a significant way to avoid stigma and enable the sharing of sexual health information. The young people in our study were interested in sexual health information, but did not want to access it at the cost of their own sense of comfort and belonging in their social networks. Any sexual health promotion within these sites must be understood as a site-specific intervention.

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Is the Internet Filling the Sexual Health Information Gap for Teens? An Exploratory Study

Cited by 115 publications

References 9 publications

Sexual risk and healthcare seeking behaviour in young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in North Queensland

Sexual risk and healthcare seeking behaviour in young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in North Queensland

The use of social media among adolescents in Dar es Salaam and Mtwara, Tanzania

“It would be weird to have that on Facebook”: young people's use of social media and the risk of sharing sexual health information

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