Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Aug 22, 2019
Date Accepted: Feb 24, 2020
Date Submitted to PubMed: Apr 29, 2020
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
The Gist: A digital pornography literacy resource co-designed with vulnerable young people
ABSTRACT
Background:
How the frequent viewing of pornography and young age may impact on the sexual and social scripts of sub-groups of young people is an important public health issue. However, the topic is complex and highly sensitive and best practice for research and harm reduction is yet to be defined. Drawing on cross-disciplinary approaches, such as co-design, is one way to achieve a better understanding of the issue among vulnerable young people as well as to create needs-based and evidence-informed digital resources to promote pornography literacy.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to co-design a relevant, usable and accessible digital prototype to address the pornography literacy needs of vulnerable young people.
Methods:
Partnering with youth services, 17 vulnerable young people aged between 14 and 23 years old were recruited to participate in four co-design workshops with a multi-disciplinary design team.
Results:
While participants could identify problems with pornography and critique its messages, they lacked information to understand alternative healthy attitudes and behaviors. A digital resource which provides detailed and practical information about sex, sexual ethics and relationships may help vulnerable young people contrast problematic messages they receive from both pornography and society. Embedding this information with pornography literacy messages may be a more effective way of addressing underlying attitudes. Acknowledging information-seeking patterns and leveraging user interaction patterns from commonly used digital platforms among users may enhance engagement with resources. Importantly, digital platforms are perceived among this group as a source of secondary, anonymous information, but would not be organically accessed among this group without face to face conversations as an access point.
Conclusions:
This study highlights the potential for pornography literacy to be embedded within real and practical information about having sex, navigating sexuality and healthy relationships. Study findings include important recommendations for the conceptualization of digital pornography literacy programs and opportunities for cross-disciplinary co-design research to address complex and emerging health issues.
Citation
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Copyright
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