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Perceptions and intervention preferences of Moroccan adolescents, parents, and teachers regarding risks and protective factors for risky sexual behaviors leading to sexually transmitted infections in adolescents: qualitative findings

BACKGROUND: Sexual choices and practices of adolescents living in conservative societies, including Morocco, can be influenced either positively or negatively by the prevailing contextual and social norms. These norms not only limit the access to reproductive health information and services but also...

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Autores principales: El Kazdouh, Hicham, El-Ammari, Abdelghaffar, Bouftini, Siham, El Fakir, Samira, El Achhab, Youness
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6734522/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31500634
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12978-019-0801-y
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author El Kazdouh, Hicham
El-Ammari, Abdelghaffar
Bouftini, Siham
El Fakir, Samira
El Achhab, Youness
author_facet El Kazdouh, Hicham
El-Ammari, Abdelghaffar
Bouftini, Siham
El Fakir, Samira
El Achhab, Youness
author_sort El Kazdouh, Hicham
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Sexual choices and practices of adolescents living in conservative societies, including Morocco, can be influenced either positively or negatively by the prevailing contextual and social norms. These norms not only limit the access to reproductive health information and services but also lead to abstinence among devout adolescents. Thus, identifying contextual risks and protective factors of risky sexual behaviors leading to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in adolescents, as well as exploring perceptions of adolescents, parents and teachers regarding effective intervention preferences could improve the sexual health of adolescents. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative study using focus group discussions (FGDs) based on the socio-ecological model as a theoretical framework. Sample groups of adolescents, parents, and teachers were selected from two public middle schools (disadvantaged and advantaged according to socio-economic level) in Taza city, Morocco, from May to July 2016. Participants were polled on protective factors and perceived facilitators of risky sexual behaviors leading to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in adolescents as well on their perception of intervention preferences to reduce the risks. Three sets of data were initially formed, coded, and analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Seventeen FGDs were conducted, including 8 groups of adolescents (28 boys and 28 girls, 14–16 years old), 5 groups of parents (21 males and 5 females), and 4 groups of teachers (13 males and 5 females). Five overall themes seemed to influence risky sexual behaviors in adolescents: (1) risky sexual practices and STIs; (2) the adolescent’s social domain; (3) the role of school; (4) media, including internet and social media; and (5) socio-cultural norms. Participants also suggested a number of possible interventions to improve the sexual health of adolescents and to reduce the risk of STIs, which could be applied at multiple levels. CONCLUSIONS: Successful intervention programs should target the multifaceted factors affecting the adolescent’s sexual behaviors, from the individual to the societal level. Allowing parents, teachers, and adolescents to work together could help reduce the socio-cultural and personal barriers that prevent effective communication about sexuality. Furthermore, schools can play a vital role in reducing risky sexual behaviors and STI acquisition rates in adolescents by promoting sex education in school curriculum and encouraging adolescents to engage in extracurricular activities and awareness campaigns.
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spelling pubmed-67345222019-09-14 Perceptions and intervention preferences of Moroccan adolescents, parents, and teachers regarding risks and protective factors for risky sexual behaviors leading to sexually transmitted infections in adolescents: qualitative findings El Kazdouh, Hicham El-Ammari, Abdelghaffar Bouftini, Siham El Fakir, Samira El Achhab, Youness Reprod Health Research BACKGROUND: Sexual choices and practices of adolescents living in conservative societies, including Morocco, can be influenced either positively or negatively by the prevailing contextual and social norms. These norms not only limit the access to reproductive health information and services but also lead to abstinence among devout adolescents. Thus, identifying contextual risks and protective factors of risky sexual behaviors leading to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in adolescents, as well as exploring perceptions of adolescents, parents and teachers regarding effective intervention preferences could improve the sexual health of adolescents. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative study using focus group discussions (FGDs) based on the socio-ecological model as a theoretical framework. Sample groups of adolescents, parents, and teachers were selected from two public middle schools (disadvantaged and advantaged according to socio-economic level) in Taza city, Morocco, from May to July 2016. Participants were polled on protective factors and perceived facilitators of risky sexual behaviors leading to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in adolescents as well on their perception of intervention preferences to reduce the risks. Three sets of data were initially formed, coded, and analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Seventeen FGDs were conducted, including 8 groups of adolescents (28 boys and 28 girls, 14–16 years old), 5 groups of parents (21 males and 5 females), and 4 groups of teachers (13 males and 5 females). Five overall themes seemed to influence risky sexual behaviors in adolescents: (1) risky sexual practices and STIs; (2) the adolescent’s social domain; (3) the role of school; (4) media, including internet and social media; and (5) socio-cultural norms. Participants also suggested a number of possible interventions to improve the sexual health of adolescents and to reduce the risk of STIs, which could be applied at multiple levels. CONCLUSIONS: Successful intervention programs should target the multifaceted factors affecting the adolescent’s sexual behaviors, from the individual to the societal level. Allowing parents, teachers, and adolescents to work together could help reduce the socio-cultural and personal barriers that prevent effective communication about sexuality. Furthermore, schools can play a vital role in reducing risky sexual behaviors and STI acquisition rates in adolescents by promoting sex education in school curriculum and encouraging adolescents to engage in extracurricular activities and awareness campaigns. BioMed Central 2019-09-10 /pmc/articles/PMC6734522/ /pubmed/31500634 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12978-019-0801-y Text en © The Author(s). 2019 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
El Kazdouh, Hicham
El-Ammari, Abdelghaffar
Bouftini, Siham
El Fakir, Samira
El Achhab, Youness
Perceptions and intervention preferences of Moroccan adolescents, parents, and teachers regarding risks and protective factors for risky sexual behaviors leading to sexually transmitted infections in adolescents: qualitative findings
title Perceptions and intervention preferences of Moroccan adolescents, parents, and teachers regarding risks and protective factors for risky sexual behaviors leading to sexually transmitted infections in adolescents: qualitative findings
title_full Perceptions and intervention preferences of Moroccan adolescents, parents, and teachers regarding risks and protective factors for risky sexual behaviors leading to sexually transmitted infections in adolescents: qualitative findings
title_fullStr Perceptions and intervention preferences of Moroccan adolescents, parents, and teachers regarding risks and protective factors for risky sexual behaviors leading to sexually transmitted infections in adolescents: qualitative findings
title_full_unstemmed Perceptions and intervention preferences of Moroccan adolescents, parents, and teachers regarding risks and protective factors for risky sexual behaviors leading to sexually transmitted infections in adolescents: qualitative findings
title_short Perceptions and intervention preferences of Moroccan adolescents, parents, and teachers regarding risks and protective factors for risky sexual behaviors leading to sexually transmitted infections in adolescents: qualitative findings
title_sort perceptions and intervention preferences of moroccan adolescents, parents, and teachers regarding risks and protective factors for risky sexual behaviors leading to sexually transmitted infections in adolescents: qualitative findings
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6734522/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31500634
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12978-019-0801-y
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