Violación externa “gravemente imputable”

In this chapter the sexual health status of Pacific youth in New Zealand was examined in light of national and international literature. As outlined, from a public health perspective, the sexual health status of young New Zealanders, particularly Pacific youth is concerning. The rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unintended teenage pregnancies and suboptimal levels of contraceptive use in New Zealand are high when compared with other OECD countries.

Around the world, policy makers and practitioners are focusing efforts in sexual and reproductive health. Given the high rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, emphasis has been on improving the sexual health status of

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young people. As this review has shown, government officials use a variety of public health methods to influence sexual health behaviours. Two crucial elements are the quality of sexual health evidence and an understanding of risk and protective factors. From a public policy perspective, an understanding of the risk and protective factors is valuable to identifies where resources and interventions designed to influence sexual health behaviour should be targeted. The literature has shown that the factors that influence sexual health knowledge, attitudes and behaviour are located within the context of family, school, and community environments.

As revealed in the literature trends and drivers for sexual activity vary for teenagers of different ages and ethnicities. Cultural norms, values and traditions influence sexual health behaviours and outcomes. Despite the acknowledgement that social and cultural factors play a role in relation to sexual health behaviour, there are very few quantitative studies that show how cultural factors affect sexual behaviour. Furthermore, how social and cultural factors are incorporated into the design of

sexual health interventions. This review has outlined Pacific and ¢‘ƒn

understandings of health and wellbeing. Values and traditions that are unique to

¢‘ƒns are highlighted. These values and the associated roles within ¢‘ƒn

families influence how ¢‘ƒn youth receive sexual health knowledge as well how

their sexual health attitudes are shaped.

The New Zealand government acknowledges there is room to improve sexual and reproductive health care for New Zealanders. Public policy agents seek to increase the awareness of sexual health issues in culturally appropriate and relevant ways for Pacific communities. However, the literature on the sexual health needs of young Pacific people growing up in New Zealand is limited.

As noted in Chapter One, my personal experiences of working with ¢‘ƒn youth and

their families in the field of sexual health and in reviewing the current literature led to the framing of this study. The aim of this chapter was to survey existing literature to

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construct a picture of sexual health behaviours; to investigate what risk and protective factors are associated with sexual behaviours; to seek further

understanding of the issues and experiences that ¢‘ƒn youth face arose and;

reviewing how this information can assist public health agents particularly in the field of current interventions and policy.

The following chapter (Chapter Three - Methodology) explains how these desires were transformed into research practice and located within a theoretical framework.

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CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Chapter Overview

This chapter provides a biographical sketch of the researcher and review of the theoretical framework guiding the design and implementation of this study. The rest of the chapter comprises three sections. Section 3.3 discusses how pragmatism and Pacific health research approach provide the philosophical worldviews underpinning this study. A summary of theoretical foundations of research is presented. An explanation of pragmatism is followed with an overview of Pacific health research approach. This section ends with a discussion of how these two complementary philosophical frameworks, pragmatism and Pacific health research approach, are woven together in this study.

Section 3.4 provides a summary of ‘Mixed Methods’, the research approach selected for this study. A brief outline and historical account of Mixed Methods is presented. The purpose in selecting Mixed Methods is also explained. The section concludes with a discussion of the ‘convergent parallel design’, the research design utilised for this study.

Section 3.5 presents the research methods - the techniques and practices used to gather and analyse the research data. This section is divided into two segments: Part A

and Part B. In Part A, a description of the Youth ‘07 survey that forms the quantitative

component of this study, is presented. In Part B, an overview of the focus group

process that was used with ¢‘ƒn secondary school students and the key informant

interviews undertaken with key informants is provided. These two research practices form the qualitative component of this study. Within these two segments the development of the survey questionnaires, recruitments of participants, interview

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process and data analysis procedures are discussed. This chapter concludes with a discussion of the strengths and limitations with this study.

A visual model illustrating the research methodology employed for this study is presented in Figure 2. Adapted from a model developed by Creswell (2014), this model shows the detail and flow of the research activities:

Figure 2: A framework for this research - The interconnection of worldviews, design and research methods. (Adapted from Creswell, 2014, p. 5)

3.4 Research Approach & Design

Mixed Methods: Convergent

Parallel

3.5 Research Methods Youth ’07, Focus Groups &

Key Informants Questions Data Collection Data Analysis Interpretation Validation 3.3 Philosophical Worldview x Pragmatism x Pacific research methods

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