Identifying future research needs for the promotion of young people's sexual health in New Zealand
Abstract
An increasing focus on the sexual health status of New Zealand youth has followed in the wake of somewhat alarming statistics on abortion rates, sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancy. The call for further New Zealand research to guide policy and practices to improve the sexual health status of young people, as stipulated in the Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy (Ministry of Health 2001a), is both timely and necessary. This paper addresses the question of what research is needed to inform the improvement of young people's health status. Two approaches are employed: firstly, the paper reviews current New Zealand literature to identify the research knowledge currently available to inform development of the strategy, and, secondly, the paper draws on the findings of a scoping study that aimed to identify research needs from the perspective of those working as educators, service providers and researchers in the field of adolescent sexual health. Taken together, the literature review and study findings suggest the need for more qualitative research to illuminate the evident gap between young people's knowledge and practice, and the considerable need for more evaluation of both services and sexuality education.
Author: Sue Jackson, School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington
