Identifying young people exposed to or at risk of sexual ill health: pilot implementation of an evidence-informed toolkit (SEXIT) at Swedish youth clinics.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to develop and pilot-implement an evidence-informed toolkit (SEXual health Identification Tool; SEXIT) for identifying young people exposed to or at risk of sexual ill health, at Swedish youth clinics, and to investigate SEXIT's potential to identify young people in need of special care and monitoring.

METHODS

The SEXIT toolkit was developed, validated and pilot-implemented at three Swedish youth clinics. Pre-implementation staff readiness was assessed and youth clinic visitors' responses to SEXIT were analysed.

RESULTS

All staff perceived a need for screening for sexual risk-taking and exposure. The response rate from 268 youth clinic visitors (aged 15-24 years) was 86%. Half of the visitors had one or no variable associated with sexual ill health, a third had two or three, and 15% reported between four and seven variables. The most common variables were alcohol use, three or more sexual partners in the past year and previous chlamydia. Visitors rated SEXIT as important and not uncomfortable or difficult to answer.

CONCLUSIONS

The SEXIT toolkit was found to be feasible and highly acceptable in a clinical setting. The use of SEXIT may facilitate important questions on sexual risk-taking and sexual ill health to be raised with youth clinic visitors.