Content analysis: A review of perceived barriers to sexual and reproductive health services by young people

ABSTRACT

Objectives Barriers to youth sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services have not been researched extensively. The purpose of this content analysis was to explore barriers as perceived by young people.

Methods A review of empirical studies regarding barriers impairing access to and utilisation of SRH services as perceived by 10- to 25-year-olds was conducted. The studies, published between 2000 and 2010, utilised qualitative and quantitative methods. Data were analysed using inductive content analysis.

Results Seventeen studies were singled out for evaluation from the 189 articles and reports gathered. Content analysis of barriers identified three categories of barriers that were directly related to the services plus a central category labelled ‘personal factors’. The latter included young people's perceptions of service access, service entry, and quality of services, for all of which confidentiality and the fear of a ruined reputation were most important.

Conclusions This content analysis shows how personal the whole process, from accessing the service to the end of the visit, is for the young person. To make SRH services more appealing to young people these barriers to services need to be recognised and reduced.

KEYWORDS:

• Barriers
• Sexual and reproductive health services
• Young people
• Content analysis
• Review

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We acknowledge the post-doctoral funding from the University of Iceland.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and the writing of the paper.