Background: In
Australia, 15- to 29-year-olds account for 75% of all sexually transmissible
infection (STI) diagnoses. STI rates among young men are rising, with most
diagnosed in general practice. Young men less frequently attend general
practice than young women, and rarely present with sexual health issues, making
it difficult for general practitioners (GPs) to offer opportunistic STI
education and screening. Little is known of the barriers preventing male
university students accessing general practice for sexual health care, or what
would facilitate this.
Methods: Semi-structured
interviews were conducted with young men aged 18-24 years attending university
between 2012 and 2014. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using
content and thematic analysis.
Results: Twenty-eight
interviews of 26-50 min duration found self-imposed views of masculinity,
privacy and embarrassment as key barriers to accessing GPs for sexual health
care. This was compounded by poor STI knowledge and not knowing when or where
to go for care. Participants, except if they were international students,
acknowledged school as an important source of sexual health education. The need
for sexual health education at university was identified. While the Internet
was a popular source, there were mixed views on the benefits of social media
and text messaging for sexual health promotion.
Conclusions: Current
expectations of young male university students to seek sexual health care or
acquire sexual health information from medical care may be misplaced.
Universities have an excellent opportunity to provide young men with
appropriate sexual health information and could offer novel strategies to help
young men look after their sexual health.
Purchase full article at: http://goo.gl/RoFVKz
By: Cameron Ewert A, Archibald Collyer A and Meredith
Temple-Smith A B
A Department
of General Practice, The University of Melbourne, 200 Berkeley Street, Carlton,
Vic. 3053, Australia.
B Corresponding author. Email: m.temple-smith@unimelb.edu.au
B Corresponding author. Email: m.temple-smith@unimelb.edu.au
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