title: Young people's comfort receiving sexual health information via social media and other sources.
abstract: Social media are growing in popularity and will play a key role in future sexual health promotion initiatives. We asked 620 survey participants aged 16 to 29 years about their time spent using social media and their comfort in receiving information about sexual health via different channels. Median hours per day spent using social network sites was two; 36% spent more than 2 hours per day using social network sites. In multivariable logistic regression, being aged less than 20 years and living in a major city (compared to rural/regional Australia) were associated with use of social media more than 2 hours per day. Most participants reported being comfortable or very comfortable accessing sexual health information from websites (85%), followed by a doctor (81%), school (73%), and the mainstream media (67%). Fewer reported being comfortable getting information from social media; Facebook (52%), apps (51%), SMS (44%), and Twitter (36%). Several health promotion programmes via social media have demonstrated efficacy; however, we have shown that many young people are not comfortable with accessing sexual health information through these channels. Further research is needed to determine how to best take advantage of these novel opportunities for health promotion.
authors.affiliation: Burnet Institute, Centre for Population Health, Melbourne, NSW, Australia Monash University, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Melbourne, NSW, Australia lim@burnet.edu.au.
authors.forename: Megan Sc
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Burnet Institute, Centre for Population Health, Melbourne, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Alyce
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vella
authors.affiliation: Burnet Institute, Centre for Population Health, Melbourne, NSW, Australia Monash University, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Melbourne, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sacks-Davis
authors.affiliation: Burnet Institute, Centre for Population Health, Melbourne, NSW, Australia Monash University, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Melbourne, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Margaret E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Hellard
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D020407:Internet; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D060728:Reproductive Health; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012424:Rural Population; D012736:Sex Education / Q000379:methods*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D061108:Social Media; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Australia; Social media; health promotion; information sources; internet; sexual health; sexually transmitted infection; young people