Department of Oncology and Metabolism, Academic Unit of Reproductive and Developmental Medicine-Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
School of Health and Related Research, Regent Court (ScHARR), The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Glob Public Health. 2022 Aug-Sep;17(9):2125-2138. doi: 10.1080/17441692.2021.1981974. Epub 2021 Sep 26.
Progress in adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) remains unequal: adolescent pregnancies are more likely to occur in marginalised communities, or in very poor households. This study aimed to comprehend from adolescents' own perspectives, the circumstances of falling pregnant and coping with motherhood in informal settlements in South Africa, to better understand the SRH challenges adolescents in these settings may face. A qualitative study was carried out over a two-month period in 2019 to analyse the perceptions held by adolescents in informal settlements served by four community-level clinics in the adjacent township. We found that adolescents face overlapping barriers in seeking to avoid unintended pregnancy in informal settlements. Once they become mothers, their trajectory is limited by the resources and support available from their own parents, particularly their mothers, and to a lesser extent, their partners. We draw on the concept of agency to examine their accounts and to highlight the importance of addressing broader contextual constraints.
青少年性与生殖健康（SRH）方面的进展仍然存在不平等现象：青少年怀孕更有可能发生在边缘化社区或非常贫困的家庭中。本研究旨在从青少年自身的角度出发，了解南非非正规住区青少年怀孕和应对母亲身份的情况，以便更好地了解这些环境中青少年可能面临的 SRH 挑战。2019 年，我们进行了一项为期两个月的定性研究，以分析在相邻城镇的四个社区级诊所服务的非正规住区青少年的看法。我们发现，青少年在寻求避免非正规住区意外怀孕时面临着相互重叠的障碍。一旦成为母亲，她们的轨迹就受到自身父母（特别是母亲）以及在较小程度上受到伴侣提供的资源和支持的限制。我们借鉴了能动性的概念来审查她们的说法，并强调了解决更广泛的背景限制的重要性。
