Parent-Adolescent Communication on Sexual and Reproductive Health: Perceptions and Experiences of Out-Of-School Adolescent Mothers in the East Gonja Municipality, Ghana

Abstract

Social institutions such as family have an important role to play in shaping adolescent sexual behaviour, and parents remain central to this responsibility. Available evidence suggests that adolescent girls who are engaged in a healthy parent-child communications on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) (e.g. sex, contraception, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) prevention) at an early age are more likely to learn or adopt safe sexual behaviors. This qualitative study explored the perceptions and experiences of out-of-school adolescent mothers on parent-child SRH communications. Sixty-four (64) participants were recruited from the antenatal care (ANC) unit of the East Gonja Municipal Hospital in Salaga, Ghana, through purposive sampling technique. Data were collected from six focus group discussions (FGDs) and thematic analyses were conducted using ATLAS.ti version 9. The results of the FGDs were presented using illuminating verbatim quotations. In all the FGDs, parents were cited as an important source of SRH information. Parent-adolescent conversations on SRH were often initiated by the female parent and this often took the form of case-base discussion. However, most participants indicated were unsatisfied with the topics discussed and the context in which parent-adolescent SRH communications were conducted. Lack of trust, perceived authoritative and insensitive nature of male parents to the needs and plights of adolescent girls, and socio-cultural norms restricting/prohibiting open discussions on SRH, especially those concerning sexuality and contraception, were mentioned as barriers to effective parent-adolescent SRH communications. Parent-adolescent SRH communications were lately initiated, infrequent, and often did not address the most important aspects of adolescent SRH.