Cargando…

Parents’ and teachers’ views on sexual health education and screening for sexually transmitted infections among in-school adolescent girls in Kenya: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: To successfully develop and implement school-based sexual health interventions for adolescent girls, such as screening for Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Trichomonas vaginalis, it is important to understand parents’ and teachers’ attitudes towards sexual health educati...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wanje, George, Masese, Linnet, Avuvika, Ethel, Baghazal, Anisa, Omoni, Grace, Scott McClelland, R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5557423/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28806985
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12978-017-0360-z
_version_ 1783257200236429312
author Wanje, George
Masese, Linnet
Avuvika, Ethel
Baghazal, Anisa
Omoni, Grace
Scott McClelland, R.
author_facet Wanje, George
Masese, Linnet
Avuvika, Ethel
Baghazal, Anisa
Omoni, Grace
Scott McClelland, R.
author_sort Wanje, George
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: To successfully develop and implement school-based sexual health interventions for adolescent girls, such as screening for Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Trichomonas vaginalis, it is important to understand parents’ and teachers’ attitudes towards sexual health education and acceptability of sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening interventions. METHODS: In this qualitative study, we approached parents and teachers from three high schools to participate in in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus-group discussions (FGDs). Parents and teachers were asked about their general knowledge of STIs and sexual health education. In addition, they were asked whether they would support utilizing outreach to schools to facilitate provision of sexual health education and screening for STIs in adolescent girls. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. An initial coding matrix was developed and refined throughout the coding process. Transcripts were coded by two researchers and analyzed using the content analysis approach. RESULTS: We conducted 10 IDIs (5 parents and 5 teachers) and 4 FGDs (2 with parents, 2 with teachers, total of 26 participants). Most parents reported few or no discussions regarding STIs with their adolescent girls. Parents were more comfortable discussing consequences of sexual activity including loss of virginity and the potential for pregnancy. Parents tended to place responsibility for sexual health education with teachers. The teachers, in turn, provided basic sexual and reproductive health education including puberty, abstinence, and overview of STIs. Both parents and teachers found the idea of screening for STIs in adolescent girls to be acceptable, and were comfortable with research staff contacting girls through informational meetings at schools. Parents felt that adolescents’ STI screening results should be shared with their parents. CONCLUSION: In this African setting, parents and teachers provide limited sexual health education, with a focus on negative consequences including loss of virginity, pregnancy, and risk for STIs. Nonetheless, both parents and teachers were supportive of STI screening for adolescent girls, beginning with school-based informational meetings for the girls. Research and programs that aim to provide STI screening in this setting must offer treatment and address the issue of whether results will be disclosed to parents.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5557423
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2017
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-55574232017-08-16 Parents’ and teachers’ views on sexual health education and screening for sexually transmitted infections among in-school adolescent girls in Kenya: a qualitative study Wanje, George Masese, Linnet Avuvika, Ethel Baghazal, Anisa Omoni, Grace Scott McClelland, R. Reprod Health Research BACKGROUND: To successfully develop and implement school-based sexual health interventions for adolescent girls, such as screening for Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Trichomonas vaginalis, it is important to understand parents’ and teachers’ attitudes towards sexual health education and acceptability of sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening interventions. METHODS: In this qualitative study, we approached parents and teachers from three high schools to participate in in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus-group discussions (FGDs). Parents and teachers were asked about their general knowledge of STIs and sexual health education. In addition, they were asked whether they would support utilizing outreach to schools to facilitate provision of sexual health education and screening for STIs in adolescent girls. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. An initial coding matrix was developed and refined throughout the coding process. Transcripts were coded by two researchers and analyzed using the content analysis approach. RESULTS: We conducted 10 IDIs (5 parents and 5 teachers) and 4 FGDs (2 with parents, 2 with teachers, total of 26 participants). Most parents reported few or no discussions regarding STIs with their adolescent girls. Parents were more comfortable discussing consequences of sexual activity including loss of virginity and the potential for pregnancy. Parents tended to place responsibility for sexual health education with teachers. The teachers, in turn, provided basic sexual and reproductive health education including puberty, abstinence, and overview of STIs. Both parents and teachers found the idea of screening for STIs in adolescent girls to be acceptable, and were comfortable with research staff contacting girls through informational meetings at schools. Parents felt that adolescents’ STI screening results should be shared with their parents. CONCLUSION: In this African setting, parents and teachers provide limited sexual health education, with a focus on negative consequences including loss of virginity, pregnancy, and risk for STIs. Nonetheless, both parents and teachers were supportive of STI screening for adolescent girls, beginning with school-based informational meetings for the girls. Research and programs that aim to provide STI screening in this setting must offer treatment and address the issue of whether results will be disclosed to parents. BioMed Central 2017-08-14 /pmc/articles/PMC5557423/ /pubmed/28806985 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12978-017-0360-z Text en © The Author(s). 2017 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Wanje, George
Masese, Linnet
Avuvika, Ethel
Baghazal, Anisa
Omoni, Grace
Scott McClelland, R.
Parents’ and teachers’ views on sexual health education and screening for sexually transmitted infections among in-school adolescent girls in Kenya: a qualitative study
title Parents’ and teachers’ views on sexual health education and screening for sexually transmitted infections among in-school adolescent girls in Kenya: a qualitative study
title_full Parents’ and teachers’ views on sexual health education and screening for sexually transmitted infections among in-school adolescent girls in Kenya: a qualitative study
title_fullStr Parents’ and teachers’ views on sexual health education and screening for sexually transmitted infections among in-school adolescent girls in Kenya: a qualitative study
title_full_unstemmed Parents’ and teachers’ views on sexual health education and screening for sexually transmitted infections among in-school adolescent girls in Kenya: a qualitative study
title_short Parents’ and teachers’ views on sexual health education and screening for sexually transmitted infections among in-school adolescent girls in Kenya: a qualitative study
title_sort parents’ and teachers’ views on sexual health education and screening for sexually transmitted infections among in-school adolescent girls in kenya: a qualitative study
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5557423/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28806985
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12978-017-0360-z
work_keys_str_mv AT wanjegeorge parentsandteachersviewsonsexualhealtheducationandscreeningforsexuallytransmittedinfectionsamonginschooladolescentgirlsinkenyaaqualitativestudy
AT maseselinnet parentsandteachersviewsonsexualhealtheducationandscreeningforsexuallytransmittedinfectionsamonginschooladolescentgirlsinkenyaaqualitativestudy
AT avuvikaethel parentsandteachersviewsonsexualhealtheducationandscreeningforsexuallytransmittedinfectionsamonginschooladolescentgirlsinkenyaaqualitativestudy
AT baghazalanisa parentsandteachersviewsonsexualhealtheducationandscreeningforsexuallytransmittedinfectionsamonginschooladolescentgirlsinkenyaaqualitativestudy
AT omonigrace parentsandteachersviewsonsexualhealtheducationandscreeningforsexuallytransmittedinfectionsamonginschooladolescentgirlsinkenyaaqualitativestudy
AT scottmcclellandr parentsandteachersviewsonsexualhealtheducationandscreeningforsexuallytransmittedinfectionsamonginschooladolescentgirlsinkenyaaqualitativestudy