Pacific High School Students’ Experiences of Sexual and Reproductive Health Education in Aotearoa New Zealand
Date
Authors
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Abstract
Young people of Pacific heritage living in Aotearoa New Zealand experience poor sexual and reproductive health outcomes. Current understandings of Pacific youth sexual and reproductive experiences are limited and efforts to deliver culturally appropriate sexuality education are made difficult by lack of resources and cultural sensitivities and taboos. This study aimed to understand Pacific youth experiences of sexuality education within the school setting to ascertain culturally responsive approaches to sexuality education for Pacific youth. The study used the Pacific talanoa methodology to conduct group discussions with young people aged 16–18 years old. A total of six group discussions were carried out over a three-month period. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The study found a lack of information provided at school. Discussion of abstinence, sex before marriage and asking questions at home was aligned to Pacific values of family, taboo, and gender. Perspectives on trust, privacy and confidentiality within the school setting were important to young people, many of whom were not familiar with being able to speak freely about sexual health topics. Pornography and social media were easily accessible to youth and influenced their ability to explore and understand sexual and reproductive health issues and needs.Description
Keywords
4206 Public Health, 42 Health Sciences, Teenage Pregnancy, Behavioral and Social Science, Adolescent Sexual Activity, Pediatric, Contraception/Reproduction, Prevention, Clinical Research, 7.1 Individual care needs, 3 Good Health and Well Being, 1117 Public Health and Health Services, 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy, 1699 Other Studies in Human Society, Public Health, 3901 Curriculum and pedagogy, 3904 Specialist studies in education, 4206 Public health
Source
Sex Education, ISSN: 1468-1811 (Print); 1472-0825 (Online), Informa UK Limited, 25(1), 111-125. doi: 10.1080/14681811.2023.2279561
Publisher's version
Rights statement
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.