Sexual risk reduction interventions in young people: a systematic review

Background: Young people are at high risk contracting STIs. In order to identify effective in-service for this group, a systematic review RCTs of waiting-room-delivered, self-delivered and brief-healthcare provider-delivered interventions was conducted. Methods: MEDLINE, PsycInfo, EMBASE, CINAHL and Cochrane databases (including CENTRAL and DARE) were searched from January 2000 to October 2014 Findings: 17,916 articles were screened. 22 RCTs met our inclusion criteria, were quality appraised independently by two reviewers using the Cochrane Risk Bias tool, and were found to be generally high quality. Increased effectiveness for reducing risky sexual behaviour compared to control was found 4 out 6 RCTs for interactive digital interventions, 1 out 6 RCTs for counselling, and 3 out 5 RCTs involving video. Significant improvements in STI events compared to control were found 5 RCTs that contained either video (both with and without counselling), brief one-to-one counselling or a STI home test kit. Discussion: These potential effective can be used to guide development of in-service STI preventive for young people.