Society for the Study of Women's Health (SSWH).
The Gambia.
Afr J Reprod Health. 2024 Aug 31;28(8s):41-50. doi: 10.29063/ajrh2024/v28i8s.5.
A study was conducted to assess the effects of a multi-component community-based project intervention on changing knowledge of, and attitudes towards early marriage for girls in The Gambia. The study involved a cross-sectional household survey of 201 male and female parents and 296 adolescent boys and girls aged 10-19. It also included two community-based focus group discussions and six key informant interviews. The study compared the project baseline and midline data in the analysis of the survey data. The findings show a significant increase from a baseline of (44.8%) to (70.7%) at midline among the parents who have the view that the girl needs to come of age (18 years) before going into marriage. At both baseline and midline, there is a fear that girls may break their virginity by indulging in premarital sex if they do not marry early. However, there was a significant decrease from (51.7%) at baseline to (10%) (p-value <0.001) in the proportion of parents who think girls must marry early to avoid premarital sex. The findings show between (2%) and (7%) increase from baseline to midline on the view among adolescent boys and girls that girls have the right to choose who to marry. Findings from the focus group discussions and key informant interviews directly linked the changes in knowledge of attitudes towards early marriage among parents and adolescents to the project intervention.
一项研究旨在评估一个多组件社区项目干预对冈比亚女孩早婚知识和态度的影响。该研究涉及对 201 名男性和女性父母以及 296 名 10-19 岁的青少年男孩和女孩进行横断面家庭调查。它还包括两个社区焦点小组讨论和六次关键知情者访谈。该研究在分析调查数据时比较了项目基线和中期数据。研究结果表明，在父母中，认为女孩需要成年（18 岁）后才能结婚的观点从基线的（44.8%）显著增加到中期的（70.7%）。在基线和中期，都担心女孩如果不早婚，可能会因婚前性行为而失去童贞。然而，认为女孩必须早婚以避免婚前性行为的父母比例从基线的（51.7%）显著下降到中期的（10%）（p 值<0.001）。研究结果表明，青少年男孩和女孩中认为女孩有权选择结婚对象的观点从基线到中期增加了 2%至 7%。焦点小组讨论和关键知情者访谈的结果直接将父母和青少年对早婚知识和态度的变化与项目干预联系起来。
