Wendy Mandell-Geller was just putting the finishing touches on a mobile app focused on reducing the incidences of sexual assault on college campuses—while also encouraging safer sex—when a new, 5-year study validating her beliefs was published in Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics. The report suggested that mobile cell phone interventions are an effective mode for delivering safe sex and sexual health information to youth and young adults (19-24 years of age).
“Youth and young adults account for nearly half of the new infections, primarily as a result of risky sexual behaviors,” according to the report, which points to mobile technology as a popular option for delivering safer sex interventions for adolescents. According to a Pew Research Center survey, 78 percent of teens now have a cell phone and almost half (47 percent) own smartphones. One in four teens (23 percent) has a tablet computer, and 93 percent have a computer or have access to one at home.
And while the report also outlined some key limitations of delivering safe sex information to youth (e.g., the fact that some of the higher risk groups may not have access to smartphones), it did validate Mandell-Geller’s assumption that mobile technology could be effectively combined with safe sex information and consent tools.…Read More