The Internet and mobile phones for sexual health promotion

Sexual health promotion is a huge global public health challenge, for example sexually transmitted infections, HIV, sexual abuse and sexual difficulties. Clinicians and patients may have reservations about raising sexual health issues, and health services are very pressurised. The scale of the problem calls for innovations in health promotion and service delivery via digital technologies.

Julia's research focuses on the development and evaluation of eHealth interventions for sexual health promotion. This theme also encompasses the design and conduct of online research methods.

Defining sexual wellbeing

Public health interventions have traditionally defined sexual health in mainly physical/biological  terms (e.g. pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection). The World Health Organisation concept of sexual wellbeing goes beyond physical health to include social and psychological wellbeing. This broader definition more closely reflects the complexity of sexual health, and patients' priorities. Julia's research focuses on the conceptual development and practical operationalisation of sexual wellbeing in sexual health intervention design and evaluation.

Understanding the complexity of sexual health consultations

Discussions ab out sexual health may be difficult for patients and for clinicians because of unspoken inferences about patients’ sexual behaviour, risk and identity. Advice for clinicians about how to discuss risk reduction is often quite general, for example to ‘avoid being judgemental’, but it is not clear how best to approach this. Discourse analysis can help to understand delicate communicative problems, identifying the intricate features of ‘successful’ and ‘unsuccessful’ communication.

Enquiries from prospective students are welcome, on the topics of

1) Sexual health 
2) Defining and measuring sexual wellbeing
3) Understanding sexual health consultations