Exploring the Preferences of Female Teenagers when Seeking Sexual Health Information using Websites and Apps

Mckellar, Kerry, Sillence, Elizabeth and Smith, Michael (2017) Exploring the Preferences of Female Teenagers when Seeking Sexual Health Information using Websites and Apps. In: DH '17 Proceedings of the 2017 International Conference on Digital Health. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series . Association for Computing Machinery, New York, USA, pp. 43-47. ISBN 9781450352499

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Abstract

Mobile technology has become an increasingly popular source for female teenagers to seek sexual health information. However, it is not known what design features teenagers want in sexual health apps. Therefore, this research aimed to explore whether internet-based sexual health resources via websites and mobiles apps are meeting teenagers’ sexual health needs and to explore for the first time teenagers’ perceptions of the design features of sexual health mobile apps. Twenty-three female participants aged 13-16 years (M = 14.3, SD = 0.91) viewed either six existing sexual health websites or three existing sexual health mobile apps chosen to be representative of the range and variety currently available. Participants then took part in focus groups evaluating each of the websites and mobile apps. The findings indicate that teenagers currently use their phones to access sexual health information due to ease of access and privacy. However, teenagers were not aware of sexual health apps. Participants believed that apps should have similar design features to websites but apps should contain an interactive element paired with accurate sexual health information. At present, female teenagers are not using sexual health mobile apps, yet they believe they are more convenient and private compared to websites. Professionals’ designing mobile apps should consider how best to market this resource appropriately to teenagers whilst ensuring that they contain both interactive features and accurate information.

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