A new methodological approach to the assessment of adolescent sexuality in Kenya

The phenomenon of "adolescence" is one of the greatest public health concerns in Kenya. By age 19, about 85% of adolescents would have initiated coitus. Currently youth-sensitive population policies are yet to be developed. This is attributed to the complexity of the problem of adolescent sexuality. Research methodologies so far used in studying the problem have proved to be less reliable. In particular, adolescents tend to respond less truthfully when responding to questionnaires. It is therefore imperative to develop new, innovative and effective research approaches which can capture the underlying dynamics. This paper describes an approach which uses a methodology hereby named "Participatory Adolescents' Sexuality Assessment (PASA)" . Its implementation could provide effective research instruments leading to generation of new insights into the problem of adolescent sexuality. Details of the methodology are discussed.