Search

Although peer sexual health education is a common form of sexual health promotion for youth, systematic reviews of these programs are relatively rare. In this study we interviewed youth peer educators to inquire about their experience of program evaluation and their perception of what is needed to develop effective evaluation practices. Data were collected from eighteen participants in semi-structured qualitative interviews of youth (aged 16-28 years) sexual health peer educators in Ontario, Canada. Community-based research principles were employed throughout the project with youth involved in all stages of the research. Analysis of the data revealed four key themes relating to youth sexual health peer education evaluation: i) varied program goals; ii) benefits to peer educators; iii) diverse evaluation methods; and iv) challenges in conducting evaluation. We discuss the relevance of our findings for evaluation practices of peer sexual health education programs.

Peer education is used as a health promotion strategy in a number of areas, including sexual health. Although peer education programmes have been around for some time, published systematic evaluations of youth sexual health peer education programmes are rare. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of youth sexual health peer education programmes, the importance of programme evaluation, and strategies for developing effective programme evaluation tools. The value of conducting both process (programme delivery) and outcome (programme impact) evaluation is examined as well as methods for conducting these forms of assessment. Considering the wide range of peer education programmes and the diversity of communities served, the article concludes that the creation of a single evaluation method may be an impossible task. To address this challenge, principles for effective programme evaluation are proposed with tools that can be tailored to the unique goals of specific sexual health organizations.

This paper takes up the concern that sexual health programs targeting adolescents may actually increase HIV risk among youth by reinforcing dominant versions of masculinity that portray males as sexually irresponsible and unconcerned about their health. If a key aim in HIV prevention education is a renegotiation of high-risk behavioral norms, an important consideration is the ways young people resist stereotypical gender norms that can lead to risky sexual practices. From this perspective, opening up spaces for the expression of counter-hegemonic masculinities may be an important health prevention strategy. In a study conducted in three urban Toronto high schools, we explore the ways students in mixed-sex groups supported or challenged dominant discourses of masculinity expressed through three themes: notions of male sexuality as unrestrained and unrestrainable; narrow definitions of sex; and concepts of "risk" and resistance to condom use. We argue that designing HIV prevention programs that "begin" with the exploration of alternative masculinities may be one way to fashion a framework for gender relations that can offer youth more effective prevention strategies. (Contains 3 notes.)

We are concerned with the ways in which social constructions of age can contribute to reducing or exacerbating the vulnerability of young people, and for this reason we refer to the issue as one of "the politics of innocence". The focus of this paper is on gender, youth and HIV prevention/AIDS awareness in the context of South Africa and investigates the uses (and abuses) of images of "childhood", "youth" and "adolescence" in the age of AIDS. Notwithstanding the particular case of South Africa where the incidence of new cases of HIV infection amongst young people is at crisis proportions, the impetus for our work on the visual representations of youth, gender and AIDS comes out of a recognition of the increasing risk of youth to sexually transmitted infections, HIV and AIDS, and within that the particular vulnerability, worldwide, of young women. (Contains 3 figures and 8 notes.)

OBJECTIVES: Sexual pleasure and satisfaction are integral components of the human sexual experience, yet these crucial aspects of sexuality are rarely placed on sexual education agendas. The objective of this paper is to explore the ways in which various groups of Service Providers (SPs) participating in the Toronto Teen Survey (TTS) understand the role of pleasure in sexual education for youth, highlighting the challenges and benefits of teaching pleasure in diverse settings. METHODS: The TTS employed a community-based research (CBR) methodology. Between December 2006 and August 2007, 1,216 surveys were collected from youth in over 90 different community-based settings across Toronto by youth peer researchers. In 2008, 13 follow-up focus groups were conducted with 80 service providers from 55 different agencies around the Greater Toronto Area. All transcripts were input into qualitative data management software, NVIVO. Coding and analysis of data employed the constant comparative method. RESULTS: SPs had a number of competing opinions about the inclusion of pleasure in sexual health education and programming. These concerns can be divided into three major areas: placing pleasure on the agenda; the role of gender in pleasure education; and the appropriate spaces and professionals to execute a pleasure-informed curriculum. CONCLUSION: Access to resources, training and personal background determine SPs' willingness and ability to engage in the pedagogy of sexual pleasure. Medically trained clinicians were less likely to see themselves as candidates for instructing youth on issues of pleasure, believing that public health and health promotion professionals were more adequately trained and organizationally situated to deliver those services. KEY WORDS: Adolescent; sexual development; education; health personnel; Toronto; Canada OBJECTIFS: La satisfaction et le plaisir sexuels font partie integrante de l'experience sexuelle humaine; pourtant, ces aspects essentiels de la sexualite sont rarement au programme des cours d'education sexuelle. Nous explorons comment divers groupes de dispensateurs de services (DS) ayant participe a l'enquete Toronto Teen Survey (TTS) concoivent le role du plaisir dans l'education sexuelle des jeunes, en soulignant les difficultes et les avantages d'enseigner le plaisir dans divers milieux. METHODE: L'enquete TTS fait appel a la methode de la recherche communautaire. De decembre 2006 a aout 2007, des jeunes chercheurs ont administre 1 216 questionnaires a d'autres jeunes dans plus de 90 milieux communautaires a Toronto. En 2008, 13 groupes de discussion de suivi ont ete menes aupres de 80 dispensateurs de services issus de 55 organismes de la region du Grand Toronto. Les transcriptions de ces echanges ont ete saisies dans un logiciel de gestion des donnees qualitatives (NVIVO). Pour le codage et l'analyse des donnees, on a fait appel a la methode comparative constante. RESULTATS: Les DS ont exprime des opinions partagees au sujet de l'inclusion du plaisir dans l'education et les programmes de sante sexuelle. On peut classer leurs preoccupations en trois groupes : le fait meme de mettre le plaisir au programme; le role des sexospecificites dans l'education au plaisir; et les endroits et les professionnels qui conviendraient pour instaurer un programme d'etudes qui tienne compte du plaisir. CONCLUSION: L'acces aux ressources, la formation et les antecedents personnels determinent la volonte et la capacite des DS d'enseigner le plaisir sexuel. Les cliniciens ayant une formation medicale etaient les moins susceptibles de se voir comme des candidats a l'education des jeunes au plaisir; ils consideraient que les professionnels de la sante publique et de la promotion de la sante etaient mieux formes et mieux situes sur le plan organisationnel pour offrir de tels services. MOTS CLES: adolescent; developpement sexuel; enseignement; personnel soignant; Toronto; Canada, Sexual pleasure and satisfaction--experienced through physical, mental and emotional processes--are integral components of the human sexual experience, yet these crucial aspects of sexuality are rarely, if ever, placed on sexual [...]

Abstract: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth require appropriate, effective, and accessible sexual health services. Sexual minority youth living in large urban, multicultural cities have a complex range of [...]

Abstract: This article provides an overview of the development and implementation of the Toronto Teen Survey (TTS). The TTS was a partnership between Planned Parenthood Toronto and a network of [...]

L'auteure examine le genre chez les porteurs du virus SIDA a travers la violence faite aux femmes et les inegalites sociales. Elle attire notre attention en particulier sur le fait [...]

Dans cet article, l'auteure propose un modele d'equite qui va au-dela de l'approche liberale--des rapports egaux--a l'egalite. Le modele de l'AICE est bati de maniere a transformer les iniquites systemiques [...]

HIV/AIDS is fast becoming a global crisis. In societies where the epidemic is heterosexually driven, women are contracting the disease at a higher rate than men. Worldwide, women have become [...]

Introduction. This article reports on the micro-, meso-, and macro-level impacts of sharing digital stories created by Indigenous youth leaders about HIV prevention activism in Canada. Method. Eighteen participants created digital stories and hosted screenings in their own communities to foster dialogue. Data for this article are drawn from individual semistructured interviews with the youth leaders, audio-recordings of audience reflections, and research team member's field notes collected between 2012 and 2015 across Canada. Data were coded using NVivo. A content analysis approach guided analysis. Results. The process of sharing their digital stories had a positive impact on the youth themselves and their communities. Stories also reached policymakers. They challenged conventional public health messaging by situating HIV in the context of Indigenous holistic conceptions of health. Discussion. The impact(s) of sharing digital stories were felt most strongly by their creators but rippled out to create waves of change for many touched by them. More research is warranted to examine the ways that the products of participatory visual methodologies can be powerful tools in creating social change and reducing health disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescent women in the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada, experience many sexual health challenges that are linked to a history of colonization and intergenerational effects of trauma. This study was informed by social ecological theory and explored how young women in the NWT develop sexual subjectivity within the context of contraception use and access during this time of decolonization. A total of 41 participants (aged 13 to 17 years) attended the Fostering Open eXpression among Youth (FOXY) body-mapping intervention in six NWT communities and then completed semistructured interviews. Framework analysis identified barriers to the development of sexual subjectivity that included a culture of stigma and shame surrounding sexuality; pervasive alcohol use in communities; predatory behaviors by older men; poor quality sexual health education offered in schools; and issues with accessing health services. In addition, analysis identified the following facilitators: comprehensive sexual health education; widespread access to free condoms; and positive health support networks with female relatives, peers, and some teachers. Our findings suggest the need for multiple intervention strategies within a complex social ecological framework, including arts-based interventions that focus on developing self-esteem and self-efficacy of youth, combined with interpersonal interventions that strengthen communication skills among supportive adults, and community-level campaigns that target stigma reduction and shift cultural norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Taking Action II is a community-based participatory action research project that adopted a strengths-based approach to thinking about Indigenous youth HIV prevention activism. Eighteen diverse Indigenous youth leaders produced digital stories about Indigenizing HIV prevention during the summer of 2012 at a week-long retreat. Youth were interviewed twice: right after they created their stories and again after community screenings. In the summer of 2013, youth reunited to collaboratively analyze the themes and meanings of their stories. Seven overlapping themes emerged that demonstrated how youth see HIV in the context of their lives' and community. The stories make connections between HIV and structural violence, culture and relationships. In particular, in the context of HIV prevention, they focus on (1) the role of family and elders, (2) traditional sacred notions of sexuality, (3) the importance of education, (4) reclaiming history, (5) focusing on strength, (6) Indigenous cosmology and (7) overcoming addictions. In contrast to conventional public health messaging, youth produced stories rarely focused on individual harm reduction strategies. Instead, ideas of Indigeneity and decolonization were foregrounded as key strategies for health promotion work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a group of concerned stakeholders, we came together to envision decolonizing approaches to respond to the elevated rates of HIV in Aboriginal communities in Canada using participatory arts-based methodologies. In total, over 100 youth worked with 20 artists in six different Indigenous community workshops to create artistic pieces that unpacked the connections between individual risk and structural inequalities. Eighty-five enrolled in our study and seventy-one youth participated in individual interviews six weeks after the workshops. Four pieces are described here in depth: The Kahnawá:ke First Nation and Montreal urban Aboriginal youth Stop Motion Film; (2) The urban Aboriginal community in Toronto, Ontario Hip Hop Track; (3) The Kettle and Stony Point & Aamjiwnaang First Nations "Rezpect" Mural and (4) The urban and on reserve youth around Charlottetown talking stick carvings. Each piece takes up the themes of decolonization as a primary vehicle for combating HIV, while placing the virus in the context of health, community, culture and agency. These approaches stress the communal, and engage with historic and ongoing oppression. Connecting youth with one another, as well as Aboriginal mentors, teachers, and artists, may in itself be a form of decolonization and reclamation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we report on the results of a community-based participatory research (CBPR) study conducted as part of the Gendering Adolescent AIDS Prevention (GAAP) project to provide insight into the ways colonialism is connected to issues of HIV risk faced by Aboriginal youth in Canada. The research took place in urban and on-reserve settings in two Canadian provinces: Ontario and Quebec. To obtain our results, we put out a call for youth facilitators who were responsible for convening a focus group in their community and recruiting youth participants. Prior to conducting the focus groups, the youth facilitators had one-on-one training with the GAAP coordinator. In total, six focus groups were completed: three groups in urban settings and three groups on-reserve. The data were coded using Nud*ist qualitative data management software and collaboratively analyzed for themes. In their focus group discussion, youth made links between ongoing colonialism and problems in their community today and discussed the relevance for HIV vulnerability. They talked about the stigma and fear associated with HIV/AIDS and stressed the importance of Elders taking a leadership role in educating their communities about HIV/AIDS. We discuss the relevance of these findings for Aboriginal communities and we stress the importance of recognizing Aboriginal youth as a powerful resource for HIV prevention work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer education is used as a health promotion strategy in a number of areas, including sexual health. Although peer education programmes have been around for some time, published systematic evaluations of youth sexual health peer education programmes are rare. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of youth sexual health peer education programmes, the importance of programme evaluation, and strategies for developing effective programme evaluation tools. The value of conducting both process (programme delivery) and outcome (programme impact) evaluation is examined as well as methods for conducting these forms of assessment. Considering the wide range of peer education programmes and the diversity of communities served, the article concludes that the creation of a single evaluation method may be an impossible task. To address this challenge, principles for effective programme evaluation are proposed with tools that can be tailored to the unique goals of specific sexual health organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: As a result of social and economic inequities, Indigenous youth globally are disproportionately vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Canada's First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people are among them. In this paper, we discuss the collaborative community-based approach we adopted to uncover new possibilities for HIV prevention with Aboriginal youth that account for systemic inequities. This project is part of a larger Gendering Adolescent AIDS Prevention (GAAP) research agenda. Methods: We conducted 6 focus groups with 61 Aboriginal youth in Quebec and Ontario. An inductive approach guided analyses. Data were coded using Nud*ist qualitative data management software and collaboratively analyzed for main themes. Findings: Youth discussed their divergent understandings of the links between colonialism, traditional knowledge(s), and HIV risk in relation to gender inequities, stigma, and involving multiple stakeholders in the HIV response. Interpretation: New prevention approaches relating HIV risk to colonial legacies are necessary. Recommendations for future research and intervention development include: an analysis of systemic inequities in HIV prevention education, focusing on stigma reduction, building wide-spread community support, acknowledging diversity across Aboriginal peoples, and increasing active youth (peer) engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]