Young people from culturally diverse backgrounds and their use of services for sexual and reproductive health needs: a structured scoping review

Abstract

Sexual and reproductive health needs are global health, development and human rights priorities, essential to the wellbeing of individuals, couples and families. Despite widespread recognition of this, young people, including those from culturally diverse backgrounds in wealthy nations such as Australia, remain largely hidden to, and underserved by, sexual and reproductive healthcare services. A scoping review was undertaken to describe the range of research on sexual and reproductive health among culturally diverse young people in Australia, in order to identify gaps in the literature. This comprised a systematic literature search and key informant consultations, followed by descriptive thematic analysis of the included literature. One hundred and twenty papers were deemed eligible for inclusion, and findings are presented as three separate analyses. The first provides an overview of four dimensions identified in the literature: (i) cultural diversity; (ii) the resettlement experiences of migrant communities; (iii) the sexual and reproductive health needs of these communities; and (iv) the practices of health services in this field. The second explores what is known from the literature about culturally diverse young people’s needs for, use of, and engagement with services for sexual and reproductive health, while the third identifies two knowledge gaps: (1) the perspectives of culturally diverse young people regarding sexual and reproductive health and health care; and (2) the engagement of culturally diverse young people with sexual and reproductive health services. New directions for a research agenda on sexual and reproductive health care for culturally diverse young people in Australia are proposed, based on the identified knowledge gaps.