Advertising sexual health services that provide sexually transmissible infection screening for rural young people -- what works and what doesn't.

The article discusses a study on the effectiveness of advertising for the TESTme sexually transmissible infection (STI) screening service for young people in rural areas in Victoria. Websites, a page on the social networking site Facebook and business cards were among the advertising used. Advertisements in newspapers, student diaries and short messages to mobile telephones were also used. The study showed that 20 young people found out about the service with the help of health professionals while six knew about it through the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) web page. The centre incurred 20,850 Australian dollars in total direct costs for advertising. The authors note that advertising STI health services should focus on referrals from other health services or health care websites.