Physicians have much to learn about helping young women achieve sexual health, a report from Dalhousie University's Department of Community Health and Epidemiology states. It says that even though Canadian data indicate that most young people are sexually active by the time they are in their final year of high school, medicine appears to be lagging behind this reality.
Dr. Donald Langille, one of the principal researchers for the report, Lessons for Helping Young Women Achieve Sexual Health, says the authors wanted to learn more about the obstacles young people face in accessing sex education and sexual health services.
The participants were 28 young women aged 15 to 18 who live in the small Nova Scotia town of Amherst. According to Langille, their responses provided strong evidence that, for many, an effective relationship between themselves and their physician, which is considered crucial to sexual education and health, doesn't exist.
The report also showed that many doctors don't take sexual histories from young people or ask about sexual orientation and practices. Many of the students interviewed by the Dalhousie researchers did not realize that they had a right to confidentiality and mistakenly believed that physicians require parental consent to prescribe oral contraceptives to women younger than 18.
Langille acknowledges that many physicians do an excellent job dealing with these patients, but he hopes the report will be a resource that doctors can use to develop strategies that will make their practices more "youth" friendly. More information is available from Langille, donald.langille{at}dal.ca