By: Melissa Davey. Published on the Sydney Morning Herald website (Health). On the 25th September 2011.
This article discussed how much money it takes to persuade young people to get tested for sexually transmitted infections (STI). The study explored indicates that a $10 cash incentive is enough for people aged 16 – 30 years of age to get tested. I enjoyed the angle of this article. Instead of the author concentrating only on the prevalence and health risks relating to STI, the article focused on the cash bonus incentive of participating in sexual health testing. In this way the story is appropriate and relates nicely to the concern of the current economic and financial situations of the country, in light of the GFC and the desire to obtain money in any which way possible. The article displays proximal news vales as the research is conducted locally, and applies to Australian youth. The article did not detail whether the cash bonus would continue to be a part of the STI testing process, I believe this would have rounded off the story quite well and given a clean conclusion. The article is very timely as STI cases in Australia are on the increase. According to the Governmental STI health website (http://www.sti.health.gov.au) there were around 70, 000 reported cases of STI’s in Australia in 2008, an increase of 13% from 2007. The article also links with the Governmental campaign launched by the Australian Government in 2007-08 of a national prevention program to raise awareness of STI’s and encourage behavioural changes that will help reduce the spread of STI’s. This very topical issue was articulated well throughout the article, and included appropriate facts and statistics. However there was only one professional quoted; Rhian Parker, ANU Associate Professor of Medicine and one of the researchers. I think the article could have been enhanced by including the opinions of other sexual health professionals, and also a person who partook in the study to learn more about what they thought of the idea of a bonus.
For further information about the research, including detailed descriptions of methodology, results and conclusions regarding the National Prevention Program, download the research reports using the following links:
hey claire!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post, you have great analysis of the article and how it compares to other articles on similar topics. I think you're totally correct with regards to it being refreshing to see an article concerning public health issues that doesn't just fall into the easy "trying to persuade people aware from risks" angle. Everyone knows the issues related to STDs, and more articles telling us the same info in the same way won't help, but I like the idea that by reporting on other issues related to STDs and testing - the payment issue in this article - that it indirectly leads to increased awareness, and is likely to be more effective in raising awareness because it doesn't follow the same tired formula.
Great post! As I was reading this article, I was wondering whether this article would have run in the SMH newspaper? I came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t. This provides us with another really interesting benefit of the new media landscape.
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