Testicular Health in Adolescents A Qualitative Study

Young men have poor outcomes with torsion of testis due to late presentation to hospital. This study was designed to generate the hypothesis of why this is the case by exploring the views and experiences of young men and their families regarding testicular health, with a focus on the reaction to a new finding of testicular pain. We utilised qualitative methodology to generate a hypothesis. This is the raw data generated from one on one interviews semi-structured interviews. The young men were recruited from out of hours clubs utilising a range of contact methods. The target population were young men 11-19 years. The young men were allowed to choose a chaperone of their choice and were given a small incentive for taking part. All but one interview was conducted at home, participant 2 was conducted in hospital. All young men chose their parent or guardian as chaperone. Median age was 13 years (range 11-18 years). Demographics crossed the social strata in two regions on the UK. Racial demographic was more limited with all but one family white Caucasian. All interviews were undertaken by the chief investigator between Dec 2015 to Dec 2017. The early interviews were also transcribed by the chief investigator and the later a professional transcription service. Hence the variation in transcription styles. All families were asked if they were happy for the content of the recordings to made public following the interviews, and all signed a consent form affirming this. The project is IRAS registered and gained ethical approval: IRAS ID 167713 REC Ref 15/YH/0299. The data has been analysed by the investigators using a thematic framework methodology, but could be open to other form of analysis. The authors were interested in why young men might delay to hospital, and once the finding of poor knowledge was established in early interviews, the project evolved to investigate what young people and their families feel are effective methods for testicular health education.

因就诊延迟，青年男性睾丸扭转患者的预后不佳。本研究旨在通过探究青年男性及其家属对睾丸健康的看法与经历，重点关注其对新发睾丸疼痛的反应，以此推导该现象背后的成因假说。本研究采用质性研究方法构建成因假说，本次公开的原始数据来自半结构化一对一访谈。研究对象通过多种联络方式从业余俱乐部招募，目标人群为11至19岁的青年男性。参与的青年男性可自行选择陪护人员，并可获得少量参与报酬。除第2名参与者的访谈在医院进行外，其余所有访谈均在家中完成。所有青年男性均选择父母或监护人作为陪护人员。受访者年龄中位数为13岁（范围11-18岁）。研究人群的人口统计学特征覆盖英国两个地区的不同社会阶层。种族人口结构较为受限，除1个家庭外，其余所有家庭均为白人高加索裔。所有访谈均由主研究者于2015年12月至2017年12月期间完成。早期访谈的转录工作由主研究者完成，后期访谈则委托专业转录服务机构开展，因此转录风格存在差异。所有受访家庭均被询问是否同意访谈录音内容在访谈结束后公开，且所有家庭均签署了知情同意书予以确认。本项目已在集成研究申请系统（Integrated Research Application System, IRAS）注册，并获得伦理批准：IRAS编号167713，REC编号15/YH/0299。研究人员已采用主题框架分析法对该数据集进行分析，该数据也可适用于其他分析方法。本研究最初关注青年男性延误就诊的原因，在早期访谈中得出健康知识匮乏的结论后，项目拓展为探究青年群体及其家属认可的有效睾丸健康宣教方式。