College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS), School of Statistics and Planning, Department of Population Studies, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Labor and Social Development (MGLSD), Ministry of Gender, Kampala, Uganda.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Apr 11;23(1):678. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15562-6.
Adolescents experience a host of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) challenges, with detrimental SRH and socio-economic consequences. These include early sexual debut, sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, and early childbearing. Parent-adolescent communication about SRH has significant potential to reduce adolescents' risky sexual behaviors. However, communication between parents and adolescents is limited. This study explored the facilitators and barriers to parent-adolescent communication about sexual and reproductive health.
We conducted a qualitative study in the border districts of Busia and Tororo in Eastern Uganda. Data collection entailed 8 Focus Group Discussions comprising of parents, adolescents (10-17 years), and 25 key informants. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. Thematic analysis was conducted with the aid of NVIVO 12 software.
Participants acknowledged the key role parents play in communicating SRH matters; however, only a few parents engage in such discussions. Facilitators of parent-adolescent communication were: having a good parent-child relationship which makes parents approachable and motivates children to discuss issues openly, a closer bond between mothers and children which is partly attributed to gender roles and expectations eases communication, and having parents with high education making them more knowledgeable and confident when discussing SRH issues with children. However, the discussions are limited by cultural norms that treat parent-child conversations on SRH as a taboo, parents' lack of knowledge, and parents busy work schedules made them unavailable to address pertinent SRH issues.
Parents' ability to communicate with their children is hindered by cultural barriers, busy work schedules, and a lack of knowledge. Engaging all stakeholders including parents to deconstruct sociocultural norms around adolescent SRH, developing the capacity of parents to confidently initiate and convey accurate SRH information, initiation of SRH discussions at early ages, and integrating parent-adolescent communication into parenting interventions, are potential strategies to improve SRH communication between parents and adolescents in high-risk settings such as borders.
青少年在性健康和生殖健康（SRH）方面面临诸多挑战，这会对其 SRH 和社会经济产生不利影响。这些挑战包括初次性行为过早、性传播感染（包括艾滋病毒/艾滋病）、青少年怀孕和早育。父母与青少年就 SRH 进行沟通，对于减少青少年的危险性行为具有重要潜力。然而，父母与青少年之间的沟通是有限的。本研究探讨了父母与青少年就性和生殖健康进行沟通的促进因素和障碍。
我们在乌干达东部布西亚和托罗罗边境地区进行了一项定性研究。数据收集包括 8 个焦点小组讨论，涵盖了父母、青少年（10-17 岁）和 25 名关键信息提供者。采访进行了录音、转录，并翻译成英文。使用 NVIVO 12 软件进行主题分析。
参与者认识到父母在沟通 SRH 问题方面发挥的关键作用，但只有少数父母参与此类讨论。促进父母与青少年沟通的因素包括：亲子关系良好，使父母更易接近，并促使孩子公开讨论问题；母亲与孩子之间的关系更紧密，部分原因是性别角色和期望使沟通更容易；父母受教育程度较高，使他们在与孩子讨论 SRH 问题时更有知识和信心。然而，讨论受到文化规范的限制，这些规范将父母与子女就 SRH 进行的对话视为禁忌，父母缺乏知识，以及父母繁忙的工作时间表使他们无法解决相关的 SRH 问题。
父母与子女沟通的能力受到文化障碍、繁忙的工作时间表和缺乏知识的阻碍。让所有利益相关者（包括父母）参与解构青少年 SRH 周围的社会文化规范，培养父母自信地发起和传达准确的 SRH 信息的能力，在早期开始 SRH 讨论，并将父母与青少年的沟通纳入育儿干预措施中，这些都是在边境等高风险环境中改善父母与青少年之间 SRH 沟通的潜在策略。
