2 research outputs found
Cross-Sectional Study of Online Preferences Among Adolescents
Background: The Internet is widely used by adolescents for sexual health
information and bears the potential to increase knowledge and positively
affect behavior. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess students’
preferences when looking for sexual health information online. Methods: We
conducted a cross-sectional survey among ninth grade students in a convenience
sample of 13 secondary schools in Berlin, Germany. During a regular school
period, participants were requested to rate the importance they attribute to
nine aspects of sexual health websites in a paper-based questionnaire.
Bivariate and multivariable analyses were used to assess awareness and
preferences by gender, age, migrant background, and school type. Results: Of
1190 eligible students, 1177 (98.91%) students with a mean age of 14.6 (SD
0.7) years participated, 52.52% (605/1152) were male, and 52.94% (612/1156)
had at least one parent born abroad. Participant numbers were spread equally
across three types of secondary schools in Berlin. Website aspects most
frequently cited as important were easily comprehensible wording (88.33%,
961/1088), clear information layout (80.57%, 871/1081), and reliability of the
website’s publisher (79.28%, 857/1081), whereas the visual style of a website
was deemed important by the lowest number of students (35.13%, 378/1076).
There was a marked gender difference in the importance students attached to
website publisher reliability. Although 437/515 (84.9%) of female participants
regarded this as important, only 420/566 (74.2%) of male participants did
likewise (P<.001). In multivariable analyses, demographic differences were
also particularly visible in the importance of publisher reliability: male
participants were significantly less likely to find this aspect important (OR
0.50, 95% CI 0.37-0.69). The odds ratio for students with migrant background
was 0.64 (95% CI 0.50-0.81, reference=no migrant background) and OR 2.04 (95%
CI 1.03-4.03) for students in the most academic school type (reference=least
academic). Conclusions: Students prefer easily understandable online
resources. Setting up sexual health websites according to the explicit
preferences of the target audience might encourage usage, especially by those
subpopulations less likely to critically assess information validity: male
adolescents, children of immigrants, and the academically disadvantaged
STI Knowledge in Berlin Adolescents
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) pose a significant threat to individual
and public health. They disproportionately affect adolescents and young
adults. In a cross-sectional study, we assessed self-rated and factual STI
knowledge in a sample of 9th graders in 13 secondary schools in Berlin,
Germany. Differences by age, gender, migrant background, and school type were
quantified using bivariate and multivariable analyses. A total of 1177
students in 61 classes participated. The mean age was 14.6 (SD = 0.7), 47.5%
were female, and 52.9% had at least one immigrant parent. Knowledge of human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was widespread, but other STIs were less known.
For example, 46.2% had never heard of chlamydia, 10.8% knew of the HPV
vaccination, and only 2.2% were aware that no cure exists for HPV infection.
While boys were more likely to describe their knowledge as good, there was no
general gender superiority in factual knowledge. Children of immigrants and
students in the least academic schools had lower knowledge overall. Our
results show that despite their particular risk to contract an STI,
adolescents suffer from suboptimal levels of knowledge on STIs beyond HIV.
Urgent efforts needed to improve adolescent STI knowledge in order to improve
the uptake of primary and secondary prevention