Sex, young people and chlamydia: reducing the impact

Abstract

Genital chlamydia infection is a highly prevalent condition and disproportionately affects young people. Chlamydia screening is the major strategy for chlamydia control in developed countries. This research includes two separate, linked studies, aiming to reduce the impact of chlamydia in Australian young people by increasing chlamydia testing. The first study is a randomised controlled trial (RCT) and the second a qualitative study using in-depth interviews and discourse analysis. The RCT evaluated an email based intervention and found that those who engaged in email interaction were more likely to report chlamydia test uptake at six month follow up compared with those in the control group. Young people who completed the RCT were invited to participate in face-to-face in-depth interviews, which explored the young person’s experiences of the RCT and enquired about the meanings of STIs they held. Discourse analysis of interview transcripts suggested that young people strongly uphold a medical discourse about STIs and see themselves and others as being responsible if they are safe (ie use condoms or get tested). As digital technologies continue to rapidly evolve, understanding the ways in which young people engage with them in relation to sexual health care will be important.