School nurses and health visitors need training on sexting

Qualitive study looks at nursing ability to deal with consequences of sexting in young people

Sexting – desribed by the Oxford English Dictionary as the distribution of sexually explicit photographs or messages via mobile phone – may lead to harmful consequences for some young people.

There has been recent government guidelines on safe use of social media. School nurses and other primary care nurses working with children and young people may have a health promotion role in sexting because protecting them from potentially harmful sexual behaviour is a public health concern.

This qualitative study interviewed 18 school nurses, health visitors and family nurses (PHNs) in England as to their views, practice, experience and confidence in dealing with sexting and potentially harmful situations. The participants suggested that sexting was an issue affecting young people they worked with. Some suggested that sexting had