Designing Digital Tools Capable of Reaching Disadvantaged Adolescents and Improving their Sexual Health: A Mexican Experience

• Published in: Journal of health care for the poor and underserved Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 62 - 84
• Main Authors: Hubert, Celia, Estrada, Fátima, Campero, Lourdes, Heredia-Pi, Ileana B, Villalobos, Aremis, Suárez-López, Leticia, Ibáñez-Cuevas, Midiam, Barrientos, Tonatiuh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press 01.05.2021
• Subjects: Adolescent sexuality; Adolescents; Contraceptives; Decision making; Evidence-based medicine; Gender equity; Health services; Mothers; Participatory action research; Reproductive behavior; Reproductive health; Self esteem; Self-efficacy; Sexual behavior; Sexual health; Teenage pregnancy; Teenagers; Websites; Womens health; Mexico
• ISSN: 1049-2089; 1548-6869; 1548-6869
• DOI: 10.1353/hpu.2021.0051

In Mexico, underprivileged adolescents have a higher than average teen pregnancy rate, lower use of contraceptives, and little access to reproductive health services. Yet, few evidence-based attempts to build more equitable, accessible, and available reproductive health services for disadvantaged adolescents than their counterparts have been made. The objective is to describe the design and development process of new content that has been integrated to work in synergy with an existing website to promote sexual and reproductive health among Mexican adolescents. We adopted a user-centered participatory action research approach. We developed a set of nine interactive activities that promote knowledge and skills on self-esteem, gender equity, self-efficacy, and decision-making; a chat with live counseling for healthy sexual and reproductive behavior; and a video with a message that highlights the importance of delaying motherhood. By incorporating this type of constructivist strategy, we seek to meet adolescents' needs more easily and improve the acceptability of interventions.