Ricerc@Sapienza

Objectives: Social Media (SM) and on-line communities have
become important communication channels for young people.
The massive use of these technologies by new generations gave
rise to an international debate regarding the potential effects on
relationships and sexuality. This review aims at: highlighting
advantages and limits of SM as sexual education tool and their
impact on youth development; analyzing the attitudes of professionals
involved in sexual education programs toward SM and
Social Networking Sites (SNS); and getting a state of the art
picture regarding how new technologies can be used to run
sexual education programs.
Methods: The current review has been based on 77 articles
published from January 2007 to October 2017 in Google
Scholar, Web of science, Scopus, PubMed and PsycINFO about
the implementation of technology in sexual education programs.
Results: Nowadays, The Internet, SM platforms and SNS
contribute to development of adolescents’ identity, self-expression,
intimate relationships and social well-being. Teens often
use these tools to obtain health information, in particular related
to sexuality, but the lack of clear and scientific-based on-line
information may lead to confusion and anxiety on sexuality.
Although health organizations recommend the use of technology
to Health Care Professionals (HCPs), data show they use it in
private rather than professional context. This attitude is mainly
related to the difficulty in managing SM for work purposes and
the belief that SM are not useful to reach any goal. Most of the
on-line sexual education interventions resulted to be easily
accessible, and have been effective to improve knowledge about
sexual health and to increase safer sexual behaviors. However,
these interventions are primarily focused on prevention of adolescents’
risk behaviors and require professionals trained on
technologic tools.
Conclusions: Technology, Internet and linked services are tools
and the related harm is use-dependent. The implementation of
Tech-based sexual education programs is currently increasing;
thus professionals need specific training to improve their ability in using SM as working tools. Education programs should provide
a connection between youth virtual experiences and their
feelings from a critical point of view, not only for prevention of
risks’ behaviors, but also to promote emotional awareness and
sexual well-being.
Disclosure: Work supported by industry: no.