Department of Global Health Systems & Development, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Department of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Reprod Health. 2024 Mar 13;21(1):36. doi: 10.1186/s12978-024-01769-2.
Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) literacy allows young adults to make informed decisions about health outcomes. In Peru, roughly one fifth of the population lives in rural areas, and little is known about where young adults in rural areas get their SRH information. The aim of this study was to identify what motivates and influences young adults to seek information and care related to SRH in three rural communities in the highlands of Northern Peru.
Five gender-stratified focus group discussions with a total of 24 participants, and nine follow-up interviews were conducted to generate in-depth narrative data and triangulate data from the target group. Participants were women and men aged 18-24. The focus group discussions and interviews explored sources of reproductive health information, the role of informal social networks, barriers to care, and primary health concerns of the target population.
Main findings include: (1) The two greatest perceived SRH risks were unwanted pregnancy and abnormal discharge; (2) There appears to be limited concern about HIV or other sexually transmitted infections in the narratives; (3) There is a low quality of information concerning SRH, with discrepancies between the genders; (4) A broad spectrum of sources for SRH information were cited, including Internet, traditional healers, and specialized care; and varied by gender and life experience; (5) Having trust in the information source was the primary variable associated with uptake of services and/or access to information for both men and women. However, men reported more embarrassment around seeking services and information, whereas women faced more physical barriers.
There is a lack of SRH information among young adults in some communities in the northern highlands of Peru. Both schools and health centers were noted as being trusted and established information sources for all genders so could be a key resource to explore as a way to disseminate information.
性与生殖健康（SRH）素养使年轻人能够对健康结果做出明智的决定。在秘鲁，大约五分之一的人口居住在农村地区，对于农村地区的年轻人从何处获得 SRH 信息知之甚少。本研究的目的是确定是什么激励和影响秘鲁北部高地三个农村社区的年轻人寻求与 SRH 相关的信息和护理。
共进行了五次性别分层焦点小组讨论，共有 24 名参与者，进行了九次后续访谈，以生成深入的叙事数据并从目标群体中三角验证数据。参与者为 18-24 岁的女性和男性。焦点小组讨论和访谈探讨了生殖健康信息的来源、非正式社交网络的作用、护理障碍以及目标人群的主要健康关注点。
主要发现包括：（1）最大的两个感知到的 SRH 风险是意外怀孕和异常分泌物；（2）在叙述中似乎对 HIV 或其他性传播感染的关注有限；（3）SRH 信息的质量很差，存在性别差异；（4）引用了广泛的 SRH 信息来源，包括互联网、传统治疗师和专业护理；并且因性别和生活经历而异；（5）对信息来源的信任是男性和女性接受服务和/或获取信息的主要变量。然而，男性报告在寻求服务和信息时感到更加尴尬，而女性则面临更多的身体障碍。
秘鲁北部高地一些社区的年轻人缺乏 SRH 信息。学校和保健中心都被认为是所有性别的值得信赖和既定的信息来源，因此可以作为探索信息传播的关键资源。
