Clinical Encounters: Toronto youth experiences with sexual health clinics

1. Clinical Encounters: Toronto youth experiences with sexual health clinics Percentage of youth who have visited clinics for sexual health reasons Gender Matters Some youth are more likely to visit clinics than others Background Youth who are sexually active are 9 times more likely to seek out sexual health services compared to those who have not yet had sex. Young women in the TTS are twice as likely to access sexual health services compared to young men. As youth age, they are more and more likely to access services. LGB2 and Questioning youth are twice as likely to access sexual health services compared to heterosexual youth. Asian, Black and Muslim youth were less likely to access services. While we can’t speak with the same certainty because of the small numbers that we surveyed, Aboriginal youth were also less likely to access services compared to White youth. Access to accurate information regarding STIs, HIV, pregnancy, and sexual health services is crucial for healthy sexual development in youth. This is the period where young people begin to make decisions about themselves as sexual beings and where their first sexual experiences often occur 1. Accessing appropriate sexual health information and preventative care from service providers prior to becoming sexually active has been shown to prevent unwanted pregnancies and STIs.2 Young women who have attended clinics are most likely to go for birth control, pap smears and pregnancy tests. Young men who have attended clinics are most likely to access free condoms, information about safer sex and HIV or STI testing. Generally, young women rated their experiences accessing sexual health services more favorably than young men or transgendered teens. Youth of all genders did not feel that clinics were particularly positive towards youth. The most important things that young women want to see in a sexual health clinic is that it is confidential/private, that it be a space where they are comfortable asking questions and that it is non-judgmental. For young men, the most important factors were that a clinic provides good information, that the location was close by or easy to get to and that they feel comfortable asking questions. Attributes ranked as most important facilitators to clinical access by gender Predictors of Clinic Visits (n=1047) Methods Reasons for clinic visits by gender • The Toronto Teen Survey (TTS) used a community based research approach to survey 1,216 youth through 90 workshops conducted by our trained youth advisory board. Youth were asked: • if they were going to services for sexual health reasons, • what kinds of services they accessed, • to rate their experiences and • what might promote or discourage access. Conclusions Despite the importance of sexcare, few teenagers use the services available to them. Gendered interventions are needed to improve teen ual health clinic access. • Sarah Flicker1; Amrita Ghai6; Robb Travers3; June Larkin2; Crystal Layne4; Susan Flynn4; Adrian Guta2; Roxana Salehi6; Jason Pole2; Kristin McIlroy2 • Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto, ON; 2. University of Toronto, Toronto, ON; 3. Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON; 4. Planned Parenthood, Toronto, ON; 5. POGO, Toronto, ON; 6. York University, Toronto, ON For more information contact: Flicker@yorku.ca For more information contact: Flicker@yorku.ca