Uni team examine teen views on sex

8:26am Tuesday 22nd July 2008

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A TEAM of Southampton University researchers hope to reduce the number of sexually transmitted diseases in young people by looking at teenagers' sexual attitudes.

Their study comes as rates of sexually-transmitted infections such as Chlamydia and gonorrhoea are at an all-time high with more than one million young people being diagnosed.

Previous research has shown that young women in their mid-to-late teens, are most likely to become infected. The National Institute for Health Research's Health Technology Assessment has commissioned the university's research programme.

Led by Jonathan Shepherd, the research team is assessing what are the best methods of preventing sexually-transmitted infections - STIs.

He said: "Health services and others working with young people have taken part in a range of activities to combat the spread of STIs, including providing information on how to avoid them; counselling; making condoms freely available and teaching skills.

"There is a need to summarise all this research so that the people who manage and work in the NHS, and others who work with young people, have good reliable evidence on what methods work."