Online Sexual Health Information Seeking of Adolescents: A Content Analysis

Abstract

Internet-based platforms present vital new venues for sex education. However, research is limited on the ways adolescents utilize these resources, particularly within user-generated content contexts. This study assesses the sexual health content adolescents seek online through a qualitative, directed content analysis of 365 user-generated posts in an open sexual health community forum. An adapted version of the National Sex Education Standards, a comprehensive, evidence-based sexual health framework, was used as the schema for this data analysis. Collectively, our results highlight and confirm the importance of providing comprehensive, medically accurate sexual health information to adolescents. Our analysis further supports the need to provide information on pleasure in sexual health and well-being, as well as guidance on social and emotional aspects of sexual health, and for education to be supportive and inclusive of all individuals. Ultimately, our results can help guide effective public health interventions, including sex education efforts, aimed at promotion of adolescent sexual health by offering direct insight into adolescents’ perceived information needs.

Keywords:

• Sexual health
• adolescent
• online information seeking behavior
• qualitative research
• sex education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The de-identified data that support the findings of this study are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to restrictions in place to protect the privacy of the adolescent research participants.