Understanding the Contents and Gaps in Sexual and Reproductive Health Toolkits Designed for Adolescence and Young Adults: A Scoping Review — ASN Events

Understanding the Contents and Gaps in Sexual and Reproductive Health Toolkits Designed for Adolescence and Young Adults: A Scoping Review (#70)

Zohra S Lassi 1 , Patience Castleton 1 , Salima Meherali 2 , Zahid Memon 3
  1. University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, Australia
  2. University of Alberta, Edmonton
  3. Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan

Adolescence is a crucial stage of physical and sexual maturation and development and a period in which understanding sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is important. SRH information-based interventions and toolkits provide a range of valuable resources and information available to young people, educators and members of the community on a range of SRH topics, including contraception and puberty. However, the usefulness and reliability of these available toolkits have not been previously studied, thus limiting our understanding of their appropriateness and contents. Hence, this scoping review aimed to synthesise the available toolkits aimed at the SRH of adolescents and young adults to understand their contents, design and information gaps. A systematic search of medical databases and grey literature was conducted, and 16 toolkits were included in our review. The majority of the toolkits (n=12) contained information related to general SRH knowledge and contraception, whereas only three contained information on teenage pregnancy. We found that aiming the toolkits toward educators and healthcare workers was a favourable design over targeting adolescents and young adults directly and that vulnerable youth were not well represented. We identified key gaps in the content and useability of the currently available SRH toolkits and provided ideas for improvement.

 

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