Learning about sex and relationships among migrant and refugee young people in Sydney, Australia: ‘I never got the talk about the birds and the bees’

Abstract

In a multicultural nation such as Australia, it is important for young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds to have access to quality relationships and sexuality education, as they are known to be less well engaged with mainstream services. A study was undertaken to explore the complexities and opportunities for engaging this group with sexual and reproductive health information and care in Sydney, Australia. Interviews were undertaken with 27 migrant and refugee young people (aged 16–24 years), and 34 expert informants. Relationships and sexuality education was a dominant theme throughout both data sets. Nearly all young people reported that they were unable to discuss sexuality or sexual health with their parents, and most identified secondary school as the place where they first learned about these issues. Other sources of information were identified as the Internet, friends, health professionals and pornography. Participants appeared to have limited awareness of the different services available to them. Schools, as well as other education settings such as universities, private colleges and intensive English centres, are well placed to deliver relationships and sexuality education, and for migrant and refugee young people these may be valuable settings in which to access information rarely discussed in family or community environments.

Keywords:

• Cultural diversity
• young people
• relationships and sexuality education
• sexual and reproductive health
• refugees
• Australia

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the contributions of the young people interviewed, who so willingly shared their views and experiences, as well as for the young people who contributed as part of the Youth Advisory Group convened for the study. Thanks also to the co-investigators (Dr Deborah Bateson, Ms Katherine Bennett, Dr Christopher Carmody, Mr Brendan Crozier, Dr Melissa Kang, Dr Catriona Ooi and Dr Mitchell Smith) and partner organisations (Family Planning NSW, High St Youth Health Service, NSW Refugee Health Service, South Western Sydney Sexual Health Service, Sydney Sexual Health Centre, and Western Sydney Sexual Health Centre) who provided advice and support for the research. Acknowledgement of the many contributions to this research does not imply endorsement of the findings or recommendations of this paper by those named. We acknowledge UNSW Arts and Social Sciences, which contributed some funding towards the fieldwork for this research, as well as the support of an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.

Notes

1. Includes those who migrated to Australia only a few months or years earlier, or were born in Australia, or are an international student.

2. Western Sydney Local Health District Human Research Ethics Committee; Family Planning NSW Ethics Committee; ACON Research Ethics Review Committee; UNSW Sydney Human Research Ethics Advisory Panel for Social and Health Research.

3. The sexuality of participants was not known during the interview, unless the participant chose to mention this. Participants may therefore not have been given sufficient opportunity to raise this during their interview.