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Vanilla bisquits and lobola bridewealth: parallel discourses on early pregnancy and schooling in rural Zambia

BACKGROUND: Adolescent pregnancy is a complex socio-economic phenomenon ranking high on the global health policy agenda. Early childbearing is associated with early marriage and school drop-out, and is defined as a problem to the health and development of girls. This paper reports from formative res...

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Autores principales: Blystad, Astrid, Moland, Karen Marie, Munsaka, Ecloss, Sandøy, Ingvild, Zulu, Joseph
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7528241/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32998733
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09555-y
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author Blystad, Astrid
Moland, Karen Marie
Munsaka, Ecloss
Sandøy, Ingvild
Zulu, Joseph
author_facet Blystad, Astrid
Moland, Karen Marie
Munsaka, Ecloss
Sandøy, Ingvild
Zulu, Joseph
author_sort Blystad, Astrid
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Adolescent pregnancy is a complex socio-economic phenomenon ranking high on the global health policy agenda. Early childbearing is associated with early marriage and school drop-out, and is defined as a problem to the health and development of girls. This paper reports from formative research. The formative research aimed to explore socio-cultural and structural dynamics at work behind early pregnancy and school drop out in rural Zambia. The study findings have been used to inform a school based intervention to reduce early pregnancy (RISE: ‘Research Initiative to Support the Empowerment of Girls’). Theoretically the study is informed by social constructionism. METHODS: A qualitative approach was employed. Semi-structured qualitative interviews (61) and focus group discussions (7) were carried out with girls (in and out of school), boys, parents, teachers, health workers and community- and district leaders in 2014–15. Systematic text condensation was drawn upon in the analysis of the material. RESULTS: The study findings indicate that the official Zambian discourse that presents early pregnancy as a serious challenge and schooling as the prime way to confront the problem enjoy substantial support at community levels. However, a parallel discourse on fertility, early marriage and childbearing as social and economic security surfaced and was articulated by the same study participants. The latter contrasting discourse questioned schooling as the only solution to secure a girl’s future arguing that there are many reasons why early pregnancy may emerge as rational. CONCLUSIONS: Grasping the complexity of local discourse is vital in planning health interventions. The present study revealed that although delayed child bearing and schooling among girls enjoyed high status and legitimacy in the study area, the social and economic context worked to reward early marriage. Interventions to reduce early pregnancies in rural Zambian communities need to fundamentally address the material constraints that condition and reinforce a culture of early childbearing.
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spelling pubmed-75282412020-10-01 Vanilla bisquits and lobola bridewealth: parallel discourses on early pregnancy and schooling in rural Zambia Blystad, Astrid Moland, Karen Marie Munsaka, Ecloss Sandøy, Ingvild Zulu, Joseph BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Adolescent pregnancy is a complex socio-economic phenomenon ranking high on the global health policy agenda. Early childbearing is associated with early marriage and school drop-out, and is defined as a problem to the health and development of girls. This paper reports from formative research. The formative research aimed to explore socio-cultural and structural dynamics at work behind early pregnancy and school drop out in rural Zambia. The study findings have been used to inform a school based intervention to reduce early pregnancy (RISE: ‘Research Initiative to Support the Empowerment of Girls’). Theoretically the study is informed by social constructionism. METHODS: A qualitative approach was employed. Semi-structured qualitative interviews (61) and focus group discussions (7) were carried out with girls (in and out of school), boys, parents, teachers, health workers and community- and district leaders in 2014–15. Systematic text condensation was drawn upon in the analysis of the material. RESULTS: The study findings indicate that the official Zambian discourse that presents early pregnancy as a serious challenge and schooling as the prime way to confront the problem enjoy substantial support at community levels. However, a parallel discourse on fertility, early marriage and childbearing as social and economic security surfaced and was articulated by the same study participants. The latter contrasting discourse questioned schooling as the only solution to secure a girl’s future arguing that there are many reasons why early pregnancy may emerge as rational. CONCLUSIONS: Grasping the complexity of local discourse is vital in planning health interventions. The present study revealed that although delayed child bearing and schooling among girls enjoyed high status and legitimacy in the study area, the social and economic context worked to reward early marriage. Interventions to reduce early pregnancies in rural Zambian communities need to fundamentally address the material constraints that condition and reinforce a culture of early childbearing. BioMed Central 2020-10-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7528241/ /pubmed/32998733 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09555-y Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. 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 in a credit line to the data.
spellingShingle Research Article
Blystad, Astrid
Moland, Karen Marie
Munsaka, Ecloss
Sandøy, Ingvild
Zulu, Joseph
Vanilla bisquits and lobola bridewealth: parallel discourses on early pregnancy and schooling in rural Zambia
title Vanilla bisquits and lobola bridewealth: parallel discourses on early pregnancy and schooling in rural Zambia
title_full Vanilla bisquits and lobola bridewealth: parallel discourses on early pregnancy and schooling in rural Zambia
title_fullStr Vanilla bisquits and lobola bridewealth: parallel discourses on early pregnancy and schooling in rural Zambia
title_full_unstemmed Vanilla bisquits and lobola bridewealth: parallel discourses on early pregnancy and schooling in rural Zambia
title_short Vanilla bisquits and lobola bridewealth: parallel discourses on early pregnancy and schooling in rural Zambia
title_sort vanilla bisquits and lobola bridewealth: parallel discourses on early pregnancy and schooling in rural zambia
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7528241/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32998733
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09555-y
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