A review of sexual health web sites for adolescents in Norway

Abstract

The last one and a half decade there has been a significant increase in the use of Internet for health purposes. This also applies to youth and young adults. Sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) are more common in youth and young adults, than in any other age group. To reduce the incidence and prevent new cases of STI’s, more focus has been put on the information adolescents can get from the Internet.

In this study, I have compared five websites for youth in Norway, to investigate the features of the websites and to evaluate the quality of the information on the sites. I also wanted to see how well known the sites were among youth, aged from 16 to 27, and how many of them had visited the websites. This was carried out by conducting a survey among youth in one high school, and in the University of Tromsø. The comparison of the websites was executed by studying the structure and contents of the five websites.

The results showed that the information about sexuality and sexual health given in all of the websites is of good quality. Three of the websites have good Question and Answer-services (Q&A). However, one website referred to two of the other sites for questions about sexual health. The layouts of the websites vary enough to reach an extensive age group, where all can find something that suits them. Only one site had good descriptive and illustrative photos, and two of the websites lacked interactivity. One of the sites was difficult to find by a general keyword search. Some of the sites with good information, pictures, services and features were not well known among the youth in the target group.