| Summary: | Aim
To understand university students‟ preferences and choices surrounding sexual health services, their overall satisfaction of existing services and what service characteristics influence their decisions.
Method
An online survey was designed, developed and open to students in years 2 or above, excluding those at Sutton Bonington Campus. Descriptive analysis, Chi-squared and Spearman‟s Rank tests were performed to compare variables such as gender and service access.
Results
When the exclusion criteria were applied, 95 useable questionnaires were returned. 78.9% of respondents were female and 64.2% had accessed a service.
Females were significantly more likely to access services than males, and sexually active females accessed services more than those who were not.
Desired service characteristics for existing service users included; ease of access, proximity to home, ease of obtaining an appointment or drop-in system and receiving text message results.
Prospective users wanted services to be; confidential, run by friendly and professional staff and convenient to access. Not seeing anyone they knew was important.
Service satisfaction was generally high. The internet was the main source of information about sexual health.
Confidence in their own sexual health was positively correlated with confidence in knowing when and where to access services, being confident with their sexuality and understanding safe sex practices.
Conclusion
Access among males remains an issue. Current service users desired different characteristics than prospective users; ease of access is preferred over the fear of seeing someone they knew. Technology is important in services and the internet is a valuable tool in advertising and providing information about sexual health and services to students.
Recommendations
The expansion of nurse-led services should be at the forefront of service development. Nurses should be confident with new technologies to aid better service delivery. Health promotion should continue, especially via the internet, to educate about sexual health issues and the services available to help.
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