Parental involvement in adolescent reproductive and sexual health: a case study of Asamang Community in Afigya Sekyere District, Ghana
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Date
2005-11-07
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Abstract
Young people constitute a major potential for socio-economic development in every country. In Ghana, young people aged 15-24 years account for 18.5 per cent of the total population. As the future leaders of the country, it is important to ensure that young people are educated, well informed, and provided with improved health care services and facilities. Creating an acceptable atmosphere for adolescents to learn about transition to adulthood is one of the central issues in education. Values, attitudes and behaviours for promoting positive living, including those on reproductive health, are first formed at the adolescent stage. Therefore, educating adolescents and young adults on sexual and reproductive health has the benefit of contributing to the well-being of the members of the society as well as helping them to develop their potentials.
The study type was observational with a current cross-sectional design, and looked at the practices in the community where parents were less concerned about the reproductive and sexual health issues of their adolescents. In other words, it intended to find how best parents could be at the forefront of issues bordering on their adolescents’ reproductive and sexual health. The study variables were mainly qualitative in nature.
The study concluded that parents are trying their best to educate their adolescents on ARSH issues, but however their best is not enough, the methods through which they impart knowledge to their children needed to be modified, it is time that parents sat down with their adolescents and discussed ARSH issues in a friendly atmosphere devoid of shouting and scolding.
It was established in the research that parents somehow communicate ARSH information to their adolescent in the community. However the mode of communicating ARSH information to the adolescent needed to be improved because some of the parents were not sure about what they tell their children. Besides, the parents are not comfortable discussing ARSH issues with their adolescents. The research further established that parents hid behind anger, intimidation and shouting to address their adolescents on ARSH issues.
Description
A thesis submitted to the College of Health Sciences in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Science, 2005