University of Canterbury health lecturer Tracy Clelland is at the helm of developing the UC-led app Te Puāwaitanga: Beyond the Birds and the Bees.
The project leapt into action with the support of a UC Innovation Jumpstart award and was further supported by funding from Pegasus Health, KiwiNet, the Lottery Health Research Grant, and UC’s Child Well-being Research Institute.
“The internet has ensured young people can access a lot of information on sex, relationships, gender and diverse sexualities. However, the sheer amount means much of it is unreliable or difficult to find,” said Clelland. “For the last 20 or 30 years, young people have been saying they want better sexuality and relationship education. There’s a need for a resource that is accurate, non-judgemental, interactive, culturally appropriate and, most importantly, designed by young people for young people.”
A key aim of the app was to be a conversation starter, not only providing rangatahi with accessible and accurate information, but also empowering them to discuss these realities in their lives with whānau and peers. It would also be a tool that parents could leverage to start conversations with their children, rather than talking at them.
“Young people want the conversations around sexuality and relationships to change. They don’t necessarily want parents to be open about sex, but rather be open to communicating about the many facets that shape sexuality.
“When young people encounter pornography, they’re often just looking for information about sexuality and sex because they’re curious and want to know how the world works.”
Clelland and her team of researchers, including research assistant Jess McQuoid, Megan Blair, and Summer School PACE intern Amber Rose Te Huia, worked closely with groups of rangatahi mostly aged 14 to 17 to find out what they wanted and needed from an RSE app.
“In New Zealand, relationship and sexuality education (RSE) ends at Year 10. But what a young person wants to discover at Year 10 may be very different from what they want in Year 12,” she said.
Te Huia, who helped run the focus groups and collect data as a part of her Summer School PACE internship programme, noticed that rangatahi were generally less interested in sex and more interested in identity, gender, and navigating relationships. “They want conversation starters about relationships and ways to open up a discussion with a partner,” she said.
Clelland said there were a lot of good Kiwi sites with helpful RSE information, but trying to find them was not easy for young people. Her team collaborated with various agencies such as Family Planning, Rape Prevention Education, Empowerment Trust, the Light Project, the Classification Office, Just The Facts, InsideOut, and rangatahi around the country to ensure the app brings together all of the informative and reliable information.
“Young people’s sexual and reproductive health cannot be left to chance. They have the same right as adults to knowledge and skills that support their sexual health and healthy relationships. Unfortunately, young people kept telling us that they could not talk to their parents about this,” said Clelland.
The app is one more tool that helps young people learn about relationships, sex and sexuality when they want it and when it is relevant to them and their lives.
