Language barriers may threaten sexual health of new Canadians: UBC study

VANCOUVER – Language barriers may be putting the sexual health of some new Canadians at risk.

That’s the concern raised in a study by University of British Columbia School of Nursing researcher Yuko Homma.

She says the majority of East Asian-Canadian adolescents have not had sex, but among those who are sexually active, one in four admit to using alcohol or drugs before a relationship, while nearly half of girls did not use a condom.

Homma says about half of the study group were new to Canada and spoke a language other than English at home.

She says she wonders if they may be missing key information in sexual health classes because of language barriers.

The study was published recently in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality.

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