Tailoring sexual health research practices to meet the needs of adolescent girls in low-and-middle-income countries: findings from Mexico

Background: Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) research is essential for the development of population-tailored evidence-based policies and programs that support sexual health among adolescent girls. However, various ethical challenges create barriers to girls’ participation in SRH research in low-and-middle-income countries (LMIC) such as Mexico where sexual health topics are considered a cultural taboo. Methods From February to September 2019, adolescent girls ages 16–20 (n = 30) who had participated in the Jovenes Sanos study in Mexico’s northern border city of Tijuana, Baja California (ClinicalTrials: NCT03660514) responded to in-depth interviews (IDs) on perceived risks and benefits of participating in studies addressing gender-based violence and HIV. Results Emergent themes pointed to the need to ensure consent and incentive procedures are tailored to the developmental level and experience of participants, the importance of the researcher-participant relationship, the potential for research to destigmatize SRH in LMICs and that research can serve as an opportunity to empower girls to express their sexual health medical needs in the future. Conclusions Listening to the voices of adolescent girls is a critical step in ensuring consent to SRH research is tailored to the developmental needs of participants and in developing best practices for creating researcher-participant relationships that empower girls’ reproductive choices.