RESEARCH ARTICLE
Caregivers’ Perception on Adolescents’ Access on, Use of, and Support Required to Prevent Unwanted Pregnancies in Lesotho
Motšelisi Khachane Cecilia1, Tinda Rabie1, *, Kathleen Froneman1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2023Volume: 16
E-location ID: e187494452305300
Publisher ID: e187494452305300
DOI: 10.2174/18749445-v16-230627-2022-219
Article History:
Received Date: 01/12/2022Revision Received Date: 11/04/2023
Acceptance Date: 10/05/2023
Electronic publication date: 14/07/2023
Collection year: 2023
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Usage of hormonal or barrier contraception by adolescents is challenging for most adolescents. The study revealed new evidence of caregivers’ support to adolescents on access and effective contraception use to prevent unwanted pregnancies in k.w. There is a need for adolescents’ user-friendly services, supportive supervision, accommodative cultural and religious practices, and the promotion of independent decisions.
Objectives:
To explore and describe caregivers’ perceptions of access (1) and the use of (2) contraception for adolescents in Lesotho and to explore and describe caregivers’ perception of types of support needed for adolescents to prevent unwanted pregnancies in Lesotho (3).
Methods:
A qualitative explorative, descriptive, and contextual design. Purposive sampling caregivers of adolescents in a government primary health care facility with the highest outpatient number in Maseru district, Lesotho. Five focus groups with six participants each, which included (N=30) participants, were conducted using an interview schedule. Data were analysed using Creswell’s six steps of data analysis with the assistance of a co-coder.
Results:
Three categories emerged, namely (1) access to contraception by adolescents, (2) use of contraception by adolescents, (3) and support to prevent unwanted pregnancies with respective themes and sub-themes emerged.
Conclusion:
Contraception use among adolescents is challenging. Adolescents’ caregivers disclosed being unskilled to discuss sexuality due to their cultural and religious background. Basic sexuality education has been included in the school curriculum. Service providers’ attitudes and rigid health services contribute to the limited access to contraception for adolescents.
