PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] – National policies that guide institutional health programs in Mexico fail to address the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs and concerns of young people, according to new findings in a study led by PSTC Associate and Professor of Anthropology Matthew Gutmann.

The new study reveals key “blind spots and gaps in institutional approaches” to addressing the SRH of young residents in parts of Mexico City. The research is one of the only projects to collect firsthand accounts of sexual practice among young people in the area of Venustiano Carranza. The data was collected using youth-centered research methods including peer-to-peer autobiographical narrative interviews with 172 adolescents, participatory community assessments (during which youth engaged in a variety of tasks to represent their lives to the research team, such as drawing maps of their neighborhoods and visual timelines of their lives), and photovoice (during which youth documented their lives by taking photos).

Initial findings conclude that the current sexual education programs – which use heavily scientific language and tend to individualize and medicalize issues such as adolescent pregnancy – fail to account for critical social and cultural practices. To better resonate with young people and develop more impactful SRH interventions, practitioners must fully consider the environmental, structural, and interpersonal circumstances in which sexuality is constituted, the study concludes.

Unexpectantly, the data collection tools used for the research proved remarkably useful for engaging young men in meaningful conversations on masculinity, gender equity, and SRH. With this recent success, the project’s local partner Mexfam is now developing a toolkit based on the youth-centered research methods for additional Gente Joven community health programs to implement. Their goal is to engage more young people in discussions on SRH and empower them to in turn guide and tailor the sexual health programming.

“NGOs, government agencies, and scholars have been trying to increase awareness and involvement of young men in SRH matters for at least three decades, with mixed results at best.  In addition to developing the leadership of youth participants from Mexico City’s Venustiano Carranza, this project has sparked newfound appreciation for the fact that the youths themselves sometimes have better ideas than the practitioners and academics. Through an applied ethnographic methodology, the project developed new techniques and frameworks aimed at solving problems of SRH as guided in good part by the youths themselves,” said Gutmann.

The project team, which also includes PSTC Alumna Elyse Singer, is now further analyzing the study data and beginning to generate several articles for publication. The team is also applying for additional funding to expand the use of the toolkit in three additional Mexican cities.

The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation has funded this project in a joint effort between Brown University’s PSTC and Watson Institute and the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR), along with its local partner in Mexico, Mexfam.