Funding outcome

All youth deserve access to accurate sexual health information to make informed choices about their own lives. Youth population in Canada often have less access to quality sexual health education and are at an increased risk of adverse sexual health outcomes. Providing support to parents to build their capacity as supportive agents for their youth's sexual health development is a meaningful approach to improving sexual health outcomes among youth. Engaging parents is challenging and requires effort. However, data suggest that the use of personalized, interactive, two-way messaging may be more likely to promote parental engagement. Therefore, it is important to support parents and youth by empowering them through evidence-based and age-appropriate understanding of sexual health that encourages safe and confident decision making. The aim of this project is to engage diverse group of parents and young people from Alberta to gather data that will inform effective ways to support them in making families that approach sex and sexuality with an open, affirmative, and informed perspective and provides the education and resources that can help families raise sexually healthy children. Using the collaborative research approach, (1) we will work with parents and youth to identify existing sexual health resources, services, and programs in Alberta (2) we will explore the perceptions of parents and youth on barriers and facilitators in accessing and utilizing the services and programs identified (3) we will co-design and test text message modules on sexual health with youth, parents, and stakeholders with the existing literature to help create on-going, open communication about sexual health throughout childhood in age-appropriate way. This project will provide parents and youth with a unique opportunity to work with researchers and community organizations to create text-based modules to build their knowledge and skills to make informed choices about their sexual health.