Orygen, 35 Poplar Road, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia.
Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, 35 Poplar Road, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Aug 27;18(17):9063. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18179063.
Ensuring young people experience good sexual health is a key public health concern, yet some vulnerable groups of young people remain at higher risk of poor sexual health. These individuals require additional support to achieve good sexual health but the best way to provide this remains needs to be better understood. We searched for randomised controlled trials of behavioural and psychosocial interventions aimed at promoting sexual health in high-risk young populations. Outcomes of interest were indicators of sexual health (e.g., condom use, attitudes to contraception, knowledge of risk). Participants were under 25 years old and in one of the following high-risk groups: alcohol and other drug use; ethnic minority; homeless; justice-involved; LGBTQI+; mental ill-health; or out-of-home care. Twenty-eight papers from 26 trials met our inclusion criteria, with all but one conducted in North America. Condom use was the most frequently reported outcome measure along with knowledge and attitudes towards sexual health but considerable differences in measures used made comparisons across studies difficult. Change in knowledge and attitudes did not consistently result in long-term change in behaviours. There remains a dearth of research undertaken outside of North America across all high-risk groups of young people. Future interventions should address sexual health more broadly than just the absence of negative biological outcomes, with LGBTQI+, homeless and mental ill-health populations targeted for such work. An international consensus on outcome measures would support the research field going forward, making future meta-analyses possible.
确保年轻人拥有良好的性健康是公共卫生的一个关键关注点,但一些弱势青年群体仍然面临更高的性健康不良风险。这些人需要额外的支持来实现良好的性健康,但最好的支持方式仍需要更好地理解。我们搜索了针对高危青年群体促进性健康的行为和心理社会干预的随机对照试验。感兴趣的结果是性健康的指标(例如,避孕套使用、避孕态度、风险知识)。参与者年龄在 25 岁以下,属于以下高危群体之一:酒精和其他药物使用;少数民族;无家可归;涉及司法;LGBTQI+;心理健康问题;或离开家庭照顾。26 项试验中的 28 篇论文符合我们的纳入标准,除了一篇以外,所有论文都在美国进行。避孕套使用是最常报告的结果测量指标,以及对性健康的知识和态度,但所使用的措施存在很大差异,使得跨研究进行比较变得困难。知识和态度的变化并不总是导致行为的长期变化。在所有高危青年群体中,除了北美以外,其他地区的研究都非常匮乏。未来的干预措施应该更广泛地关注性健康,而不仅仅是没有负面的生物学结果,应该针对 LGBTQI+、无家可归和心理健康问题群体开展此类工作。国际上对结果测量的共识将支持研究领域的发展,使未来的荟萃分析成为可能。