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Perceptions of sexual risk behavior among Palestinian youth in the West Bank: a qualitative investigation

BACKGROUND: Young people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are profoundly affected by violence, high unemployment, and economic hardship. Experiences of community-level violence and personal trauma increase the likelihood that young people will engage in risky behaviors that include smoking...

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Autores principales: Massad, Salwa G, Karam, Rita, Brown, Ryan, Glick, Peter, Shaheen, Mohammed, Linnemayr, Sebastian, Khammash, Umaiyeh
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4247558/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25420532
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-1213
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author Massad, Salwa G
Karam, Rita
Brown, Ryan
Glick, Peter
Shaheen, Mohammed
Linnemayr, Sebastian
Khammash, Umaiyeh
author_facet Massad, Salwa G
Karam, Rita
Brown, Ryan
Glick, Peter
Shaheen, Mohammed
Linnemayr, Sebastian
Khammash, Umaiyeh
author_sort Massad, Salwa G
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Young people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are profoundly affected by violence, high unemployment, and economic hardship. Experiences of community-level violence and personal trauma increase the likelihood that young people will engage in risky behaviors that include smoking, drug use, and unsafe sex. Little is known about the sexual behavior of young people in the region, particularly in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). Our aim in this study was to gain an insight into the perceived prevalence and patterns of sexual behavior among Palestinian youth. METHODS: The study was based on ten focus groups and 17 in-depth interviews with young people aged 16-24 years as part of the formative phase of a cross-sectional representative study of risk behaviors in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, in 2012. The sample was selected using a combination of purposive and convenience sampling. Qualitative analysis was used to code detailed notes of focus groups and interviews. RESULTS: Based on participants’ reports, different types of sexual activity outside marriage were not uncommon, even in conservative communities. The most reported sexual activity was non-penetrative sex: oral and anal intercourse, and virtual sex. Some young people had sexual intercourse with sex workers; they went to brothels in Israel and to brothels operating clandestinely in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Most respondents were of the opinion that young people did not usually use protection during sexual intercourse. Many reported that youth engage in different types of sexual activity outside marriage for several reasons: to challenge the culture, financial constraints and inability to marry, basic human need, personal pleasure, suppression, to kill boredom, and to prove manhood. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast with the conservative social context of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), the findings suggest that sexual activities outside marriage may be more common than is currently assumed. Sexual behavior in the oPt is a concern because of the low awareness of the potential health consequences. The results draw attention to the need to incorporate sexual reproductive health into the national agenda and ensure that it is included in the programs of national institutions.
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spelling pubmed-42475582014-11-30 Perceptions of sexual risk behavior among Palestinian youth in the West Bank: a qualitative investigation Massad, Salwa G Karam, Rita Brown, Ryan Glick, Peter Shaheen, Mohammed Linnemayr, Sebastian Khammash, Umaiyeh BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Young people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are profoundly affected by violence, high unemployment, and economic hardship. Experiences of community-level violence and personal trauma increase the likelihood that young people will engage in risky behaviors that include smoking, drug use, and unsafe sex. Little is known about the sexual behavior of young people in the region, particularly in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). Our aim in this study was to gain an insight into the perceived prevalence and patterns of sexual behavior among Palestinian youth. METHODS: The study was based on ten focus groups and 17 in-depth interviews with young people aged 16-24 years as part of the formative phase of a cross-sectional representative study of risk behaviors in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, in 2012. The sample was selected using a combination of purposive and convenience sampling. Qualitative analysis was used to code detailed notes of focus groups and interviews. RESULTS: Based on participants’ reports, different types of sexual activity outside marriage were not uncommon, even in conservative communities. The most reported sexual activity was non-penetrative sex: oral and anal intercourse, and virtual sex. Some young people had sexual intercourse with sex workers; they went to brothels in Israel and to brothels operating clandestinely in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Most respondents were of the opinion that young people did not usually use protection during sexual intercourse. Many reported that youth engage in different types of sexual activity outside marriage for several reasons: to challenge the culture, financial constraints and inability to marry, basic human need, personal pleasure, suppression, to kill boredom, and to prove manhood. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast with the conservative social context of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), the findings suggest that sexual activities outside marriage may be more common than is currently assumed. Sexual behavior in the oPt is a concern because of the low awareness of the potential health consequences. The results draw attention to the need to incorporate sexual reproductive health into the national agenda and ensure that it is included in the programs of national institutions. BioMed Central 2014-11-24 /pmc/articles/PMC4247558/ /pubmed/25420532 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-1213 Text en © Massad et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014 This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Massad, Salwa G
Karam, Rita
Brown, Ryan
Glick, Peter
Shaheen, Mohammed
Linnemayr, Sebastian
Khammash, Umaiyeh
Perceptions of sexual risk behavior among Palestinian youth in the West Bank: a qualitative investigation
title Perceptions of sexual risk behavior among Palestinian youth in the West Bank: a qualitative investigation
title_full Perceptions of sexual risk behavior among Palestinian youth in the West Bank: a qualitative investigation
title_fullStr Perceptions of sexual risk behavior among Palestinian youth in the West Bank: a qualitative investigation
title_full_unstemmed Perceptions of sexual risk behavior among Palestinian youth in the West Bank: a qualitative investigation
title_short Perceptions of sexual risk behavior among Palestinian youth in the West Bank: a qualitative investigation
title_sort perceptions of sexual risk behavior among palestinian youth in the west bank: a qualitative investigation
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4247558/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25420532
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-1213
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