This article reports on a study carried out within NI and explores young people’s knowledge and sexual health information sources.
School pupils aged 14–18 years (n = 414) participated in the study, and a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data.
While approximately half of the respondents reported being sexually active, only 68.2% always used some form of contraception. 40.8% of sexually active females had used the ‘morning-after pill’, with 37.5% of these respondents using this method more than once. The results also indicated that students receive varying amounts of sexual health information from schools resulting in inequalities concerning information sources. Students from a Roman Catholic religious background were more likely to receive information on sexual health from informal sources such as friends, books/magazines, or television/radio than from within the school environment compared with their Protestant counterparts.
The provision of standard and accurate information appropriate to the target population is necessary to reduce the increasing rates of STIs and help the Government reach its target of halving the teenage pregnancy rate by the year 2010.
Reference: https://srh.bmj.com/content/33/2/99
