Investigating Population-Level Interventions to Improve Youth Sexual Health

The proposed research program focuses on investigating population-level interventions affecting youth sexual health (ages 12-24) within and outside of the health sector. Across Canada, many young people experience serious health and social problems related to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unwanted pregnancies. Despite public health efforts, STI rates among youth are high and rising; and, while teen pregnancy rates are leveling off within the population in general, the health and social impacts of these problems manifest disproportionately among vulnerable populations. Moreover, as sexual health inequities grow, conventional interventions appear to be increasingly disconnected from youth's primary prevention needs, especially the needs of vulnerable sub-groups of youth. Our research program is integrated within a set of established and growing partnerships amongst researchers (UBC; BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS) and our collaborative linkages with: (a) the public health system (e.g., BC Centre for Disease Control; Regional Health Authorities); (b) decision-makers in sectors other than health (e.g., education; social services; employment; housing); and (c) relevant NGOs and youth-led organizations (e.g., OPTions for Sexual Health BC; YouthCO AIDS Society; Native Youth Sexual Health Network). Together, we will launch multiple studies that are conceptually linked and will be implemented over the next 5 years, with the components of our proposed studies necessarily (and beneficially) informing one another to: 1.Identify the mechanisms through which population-level interventions enhance or detract from youth sexual health. 2.Describe how population-level interventions can be scaled-up effectively to avoid exacerbating existing sexual health inequities, particularly amongst vulnerable sub-groups of youth. 3.Assess the relative impacts on youth sexual health of population-level interventions within and beyond the health sector.