General practitioners’ perspectives on promoting sexual health to young men

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: General practitioners (GPs) are well placed to promote sexual health to young men. Our previous research has suggested that this population expect GPs to initiate sexual health promotion. Little is known of GPs' perceptions of their role in sexual health promotion and perceived needs of young men. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews with GPs were recorded until data saturation. Data were managed with NVivo; consensus was reached on thematic analysis. RESULTS: In 17 semi-structured interviews, a young man symptomatic with a sexually transmissible infection (STI) was the most common sexual health presentation. GPs identified a range of barriers to, and facilitators, of initiating discussions about sexual health. Some GPs reported no young male sexual health presentations. GPs generally believed young men should be taking more responsibility for their sexual health. DISCUSSION: Only some GPs endorsed young men's expectations that the GP would initiate a sexual health discussion. Increased awareness that young men are unlikely to seek sexual health advice would allow GPs to better tailor their approaches and increase opportunistic testing and sexual health promotion.