College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
African Population and Health Research Center-APHRC, Nairobi, Kenya.
Reprod Health. 2021 Feb 23;18(1):48. doi: 10.1186/s12978-021-01107-w.
Contraceptive use among adolescent girls is low in many sub-Saharan African countries including Kenya. Attitude and perspectives about contraception of community members including adolescent girls themselves may be likely to limit contraceptive use among adolescent girls. This study was conducted to explore and compare adults'/parents' and adolescent girls' narratives and perspectives about contraception in Narok and Homa Bay counties, Kenya.
Qualitative data from 45 in-depth-interviews conducted with purposively selected consenting adolescent girls aged 15-19 was used. Additionally, twelve focus group discussions were held with 86 consenting adults conveniently recruited from the two counties. All discussions were conducted in the local language and audio recorded following consent of the study participants. Female moderators were engaged throughout the study making it appropriate for the study to solicit feedback from the targeted respondents.
Findings highlighted adults' perceptions on adolescents' sexuality and the presence of stringent conceptions about the side-effects of contraception in the study communities. Some participants underscored the need for open contraceptive talk between parents and their adolescent girls. Four main themes emerged from the discussions; (i) Perceptions about adolescents' sexuality and risk prevention, (ii) Conceptions about contraception among nulligravida adolescents: fear of infertility, malformation and sexual libertinism, (iii) Post-pregnancy contraceptive considerations and (iv) Thinking differently: divergent views regarding contraceptives and parent/adolescent discussion.
Our findings suggest the need for increased attention towards adolescents and their caregivers particularly in demystifying contraceptive misconceptions. Programmatic responses and models which include the provision of comprehensive sexuality education and increased access to and utilization of SRH information, products and services through a well-informed approach need to be well executed. Programmatic efforts like SRH community education should further seek to enhance the capacity of parents to discuss sexuality with their adolescents.
在包括肯尼亚在内的许多撒哈拉以南非洲国家，少女的避孕使用率都很低。社区成员，包括少女本身，对避孕的态度和看法可能会限制少女避孕的使用。本研究旨在探讨和比较肯尼亚纳罗克和霍马贝县成年人/父母和少女对避孕的叙述和看法。
使用了从 purposively 选择的 15-19 岁同意的少女中进行的 45 次深入访谈的定性数据。此外，还在两个县方便地招募了 86 名同意的成年人，进行了 12 次焦点小组讨论。所有讨论均用当地语言进行，并在征得研究参与者的同意后进行录音。在整个研究过程中，都有女性主持人参与，这使得研究能够从目标受访者那里获得反馈。
研究结果突出了成年人对青少年性行为的看法，以及研究社区中存在对避孕副作用的严格观念。一些参与者强调了父母与少女之间公开避孕对话的必要性。讨论中出现了四个主要主题；（一）对青少年性行为和风险预防的看法，（二）初产妇对避孕的看法：对不孕、畸形和性放荡的恐惧，（三）怀孕后避孕的考虑因素，以及（四）思维方式不同：关于避孕和父母/青少年讨论的不同观点。
我们的研究结果表明，需要更加关注青少年及其照顾者，特别是在消除避孕误解方面。需要通过知情的方法，制定方案，提供全面的性教育，并增加获得和利用 SRH 信息、产品和服务的机会。像 SRH 社区教育这样的方案努力，应进一步寻求提高父母与青少年讨论性问题的能力。
