MetaTOC stay on top of your field, easily

The effectiveness of an education intervention to prevent chlamydia infection among Greenlandic youth

, ,

International Journal of STD & AIDS: Clinical practice in sexual health

Published online on

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to implement a sexual health behavioral intervention in Greenland in order to reduce sexually transmitted disease rates among a population of Greenland youth. This behavioral intervention was called Inuulluataarneq (Having the Good Life). Inuulluataarneq’s objects included: (1) increase Greenlandic youth’s overall knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases and sexual health; (2) increase parent/guardian-youth communication about topics related to sexually transmitted diseases and sex; and (3) increase consistent condom use among Greenlandic youth. We hypothesised that increased awareness of sexually transmitted diseases and sexual health as well as increased communication between parents/guardians and their adolescent children would influence sexual risk behavior and reduce sexually transmitted diseases among our sample population, with a focus on urine samples of chlamydia infection. Results indicate that the influence of having a parent/guardian to speak with about topics related to sex, including the consequences of pregnancy, are key protective factors in reducing sexually transmitted diseases among Greenlandic youth. Inuulluataarneq demonstrates that intensive short-term education and skill-building delivered by a trained community member is an effective sexually transmitted disease prevention intervention method among young Inuit populations who live in small isolated Arctic communities.