Project Activities and Results
Five YP (four female and one male) were provided with systematic training in qualitative research methods, research ethics and safeguarding. A total of 15 interviews were subsequently conducted, as well as peer group observation and several focus group discussions. The peer ethnography method was found to be innovative, and potentially worth replicating in other public involvement work. However, the extensive time required to ensure the study was ethically rigorous, YP-led and fitted within the peer researchers’ availability (all were in full-time education) posed particular challenges to the two-year project time frame. Significant new data and knowledge were elicited relevant to policy-making and service provision for YP. Details emerged concerning gender determination, gender role conditioning, gender relations, and social expectations, which informed much of YPs’ lived reality of early intimate and sexual relationships. Interviews highlighted poor knowledge of STIs and the sexual health services available. Knowledge of where to obtain condoms was also generally poor, and there was an expressed fear of and resistance to purchasing condoms or using doctors’ surgeries or specialist clinics, as opposed to dedicated YP services. These findings have particular ramifications for service delivery in England, including the recent shift to “Under Twenties” provision (previously services targeted Under-25s).
The poor, patchy nature of sex and relationships education in schools was highlighted, which under-serves YP at critical stages in their personal, emotional and sexual development. The gay and transgender YP interviewed felt particularly marginalised by the “hetero-normative” messages communicated; such findings flag the increasingly recognised links between sexuality, well-being and mental health. Study data provided nuanced detail on internet use by YP, including their variegated exposure to and interest in online pornography at different ages. Findings both confirmed and challenged current concerns regarding pornography in YP’s lives, suggesting the need for greater YP involvement in planned new educational activities in this area. New information was also elicited about vulnerability, risk-taking and transactional sex for drugs amongst YP. Overall study findings underscore the importance of a broad conceptualisation of “sexual health”, and associated educational, awareness-raising and empowerment initiatives for young women and men, which are unlikely to be met through conventional educational and sexual health services alone.
