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Abstract
Introduction: Despite government support of culturally appropriate sex and relationships education (SRE), young people's access to information is limited and sexual health needs are not being met, particularly among youth from black and minority ethnic groups. Joint‐working between health, education, voluntary sectors and parents has been heralded as key in redressing inequalities in sexual health outcomes and access to information. Our study focuses on SRE provision for young Muslim Bangladeshis, highlighting the complexities involved in streamlining SRE messages.
Objective: To explore stakeholder views about SRE and ways to improve SRE delivery.
Design: Sixteen semi‐structured interviews were conducted in 2005 with stakeholders from schools, National Health Service, and parent and voluntary sector bodies in a London borough.
Results: Two key factors enhancing Bangladeshi youth's risk of infection and unwanted pregnancy were identified: inadequate parental understanding about sexual health and limited parent‐delivered SRE; and patchy provision of culturally appropriate, school‐based SRE. Factors affecting SRE provision included culturally rooted perceptions of sex/sexuality and limited participation of stakeholders, (religious leaders, parents), in developing and delivering SRE.
Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of widespread community engagement, underlining that joint‐working, and the development and delivery of culturally appropriate and consistent SRE, necessitates communication and collaboration among stakeholders in young people's health and well‐being.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all the stakeholders who took part in the study. This research would not have been possible without their participation. They would also like to thank fellow MBBS students Catherine Obika and Bhavini Makwana for their help in laying the foundations for this work, and Tammy Potter (Options), Campbell Todd (Tower Hamlets PCT, until end 2005) and Anna Martinez (Sex Education Forum) for commenting on drafts of this manuscript. The views presented in this paper are those of the authors only. This study was funded in part by the Research Advisory Board and the Healthy Schools Scheme.