Perspectives on Sexual Health, Sexual Health Education, and HIV Prevention From Adolescent (13-18 Years) Sexual Minority Males.
Sean R Cahill, Timothy M Wang, Holly B Fontenot and 7 others
PMID 34154868WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescent sexual minority males described inadequate sexual health information, fear of being outed, and barriers to condoms, testing, and PrEP.
They wanted affirming, confidential care from adults. Scare-based or exclusionary messages were not wanted.
Key findings
01Participants described sexual identity as fluid and wanted respect for changing labels, while support was more often from friends than family.
02Sexual health information from parents, providers, and schools was often absent, brief, fear-based, or heterosexual-only; participants wanted accurate, affirming, inclusive education.
03Barriers to HIV prevention included cost, privacy, fear of parents learning of care, stigma, and difficulty finding providers who would prescribe PrEP to minors.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Small purposive sample of adolescent sexual minority males, so themes are not representative of all such youth. Recruitment was difficult for younger adolescents and rural participants, and in-person groups were harder to recruit than online groups. Parental permission was waived, which may affect how confidentiality and consent issues are interpreted. In-person audio files did not identify speakers, so individual responses could not be fully tracked. Findings describe perceptions and barriers, not measured sexual health or HIV outcomes, and cannot show that any intervention works.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that simply giving adolescents more HIV information will reduce risk. The barriers described were stigma, privacy, cost, and limited provider knowledge or willingness to prescribe to minors, not just lack of facts.