Factors associated with and barriers to completeness of sexuality information among young people in the Island Communities of Uganda

Purpose: The completeness of sexuality information (SI) has been ignored by many scholars who focus more on access to SI. Yet, completeness is the critical first step towards achieving Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) for young people (10–24 years). This study examined the determinants and barriers to complete SI among young people in Uganda’s island communities.

Methods: This convergent mixed-methods study with surveys collected from 569 young people using structured digital questionnaires, analyzed using descriptives and logistic regression. Qualitative data involved 16FGDs and 20KIIs with parents, teachers, and community leaders, analyzed thematically. Ethical approval, consent, and safeguarding procedures were strictly followed.

Findings: The study found very low, 3.7%, SI completeness among young people in Uganda’s island communities, across all eight UNESCO-recommended topics. Living with biological parents was the only significant (aoR=13.684[1.483-126.291], p=0.021) determinant of SI completeness at the multivariate level, while being female, a student, a club member, were significantly more likely to have complete SI at the bivariate level, highlighting the importance of gender, schooling, social participation, and parental co-residence. SI was mainly verbal or observational, with limited reading or digital access. Barriers included cultural taboos, parental neglect, gender bias, environmental risks, and digital misinformation, underscoring the need for integrated, context-sensitive interventions.

Conclusion: Achieving complete SI requires interventions that enhance parental capacity to deliver context-specific SI, alongside supporting schools and peer networks to reach the out-of-school young people. These efforts should be gender-inclusive and address the challenges of digital misinformation, particularly in isolated and resource-constrained communities.