ABSTRACT

Comprehensive sexual health education is critical for the prevention of STIs and unintended pregnancy among young people. Yet, increasing barriers to comprehensive sexual health education in classroom settings underscore the importance of youth-friendly technologies to address sexual health among young people. It’s OK to Ask Someone (IOTAS) uses a customised technology to expand Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania’s sexual health programming with a confidential sexual health textline designed to answer sexual health questions in a timely, user-friendly manner. This paper describes results from a process evaluation focused on assessing who uses IOTAS, how they use IOTAS and in what ways IOTAS is perceived to be helpful to texters. Results illustrate that a textline-approach is an acceptable and appropriate way to engage with young people. Findings demonstrate that young people are using the confidential textline to seek information about sexual health and report it as a helpful resource. Findings are relevant for sexual health educators and practitioners working with young people, including those interested in using a technology approach to expand health education opportunities. Additional research should continue to explore the potential of youth-friendly, technology-based approaches to support sexual health information seeking.

摘要

全面的性健康教育对于预防青少年性传播感染和意外怀孕至关重要。然而，课堂环境中全面性健康教育的障碍越来越多，这凸显了适合青年的技术对解决年轻人性健康问题的重要性。可以问别人(IOTAS) 使用定制技术来扩展西宾夕法尼亚州计划生育协会的性健康计划，其中包含旨在及时、用户友好的方式回答性健康问题的保密性健康文本热线。本文描述了过程评估的结果，重点是评估谁使用 IOTAS，他们如何使用 IOTAS，以及 IOTAS 以何种方式被认为对发短信者有帮助。结果表明，文本在线方法是与年轻人互动的可接受且适当的方式。调查结果表明，年轻人正在使用保密文本线来寻找有关性健康的信息并将其报告为有用的资源。调查结果与与年轻人一起工作的性健康教育者和从业者相关，包括那些有兴趣使用技术方法来扩大健康教育机会的人。进一步的研究应继续探索对青年友好的、基于技术的方法的潜力，以支持寻求性健康信息。