Browsing by Author "Ngabirano, Fred"

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    “If your mother does not teach you, the world will…”: A qualitative study of parent-adolescent communication on sexual and reproductive health issues in Border districts of eastern Uganda
    (Research square, 2022) Ndugga, Patricia; Kwagala, Betty; Ojiambo Wandera, Stephen; Kisaakye, Peter; Mbonye, Martin K.; Ngabirano, Fred
    Adolescents (10–19 years) in developing countries experience a host of sexual and reproductive (SRH) challenges, with detrimental SRH and socio-economic consequences. These include early sexual debut, sexually transmitted infections including HIV, unsafe abortions, teenage pregnancy, and early childbearing. Parent-adolescent communication about SRH has significant potential to reduce adolescents’ risky sexual behaviors. However, communication between parents and adolescents is limited. We assessed the facilitators and barriers to parent-adolescent communication about sexual and reproductive health in two border districts of Eastern Uganda. Methods A community-based cross-sectional qualitative study was conducted in the border districts of Busia and Tororo in Eastern Uganda. Data collection entailed 8 Focus Group Discussions comprising parents, adolescents (10–17 years) and 26 Key Informants. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. Thematic analysis was conducted with the aid of NVIVO 12 software. Results Parent-adolescent communication about SRH was not common. Facilitators of parent-adolescent communication were: good parent-child relationship, role of the mother, education level, and exposure of the parent. Parents are, however, limited by sexual and reproductive health-related cultural norms, inadequate capacity for parents to address pertinent SRH issues, busy schedules, poor modeling by parents, and inability to meet children’s /household basic needs. Conclusion Parents’ ability to communicate with their children is hindered by cultural barriers and inadequate knowledge. There is a need to equip parents with adequate information and skills to ease communication. Additionally, parent-adolescent communication on sexual and reproductive health should be integrated into parenting interventions so as to improve SRH communication between parents and children.
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    “If Your Mother Does Not Teach You, The World Will…”: A Qualitative Study of Parent-Adolescent Communication on Sexual and Reproductive Health Issues in Border Districts of Eastern Uganda
    (BMC Public Health, 2023-04-11) Ndugga, Patricia; Kwagala, Betty; Kisaakye, Peter; Ngabirano, Fred
    Adolescents experience a host of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) challenges, with detrimental SRH and socio-economic consequences. These include early sexual debut, sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, and early childbearing. Parent-adolescent communication about SRH has significant potential to reduce adolescents’ risky sexual behaviors. However, communication between parents and adolescents is limited. This study explored the facilitators and barriers to parent-adolescent communication about sexual and reproductive health. We conducted a qualitative study in the border districts of Busia and Tororo in Eastern Uganda. Data collection entailed 8 Focus Group Discussions comprising of parents, adolescents (10–17 years), and 25 key informants. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. Thematic analysis was conducted with the aid of NVIVO 12 software. Participants acknowledged the key role parents play in communicating SRH matters; however, only a few parents engage in such discussions. Facilitators of parent-adolescent communication were: having a good parent-child relationship which makes parents approachable and motivates children to discuss issues openly, a closer bond between mothers and children which is partly attributed to gender roles and expectations eases communication, and having parents with high education making them more knowledgeable and confident when discussing SRH issues with children. However, the discussions are limited by cultural norms that treat parent-child conversations on SRH as a taboo, parents’ lack of knowledge, and parents busy work schedules made them unavailable to address pertinent SRH issues. Parents’ ability to communicate with their children is hindered by cultural barriers, busy work schedules, and a lack of knowledge. Engaging all stakeholders including parents to deconstruct sociocultural norms around adolescent SRH, developing the capacity of parents to confidently initiate and convey accurate SRH information, initiation of SRH discussions at early ages, and integrating parent-adolescent communication into parenting interventions, are potential strategies to improve SRH communication between parents and adolescents in high-risk settings such as borders.
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    Parent–child communication on sexual and reproductive health in border districts of Eastern Uganda
    (Sex Education, 2022) Kisaakye, Peter; Ndugga, Patricia; Kwagala, Elizabeth; Kayitale Mbonye, Martin; Ngabirano, Fred; Ojiambo Wandera, Stephen
    Parent-child communication concerning sexual and reproductive health (SRH) has significant potential to reduce children’s risky sexual behaviour. Despite these benefits, few parents communicate with their children about SRH issues in Uganda. Using multistage stratified sampling in a cross-sectional survey, we estimated the prevalence and investigated the factors that were associated with recent parent-child communication among 600 children (10- 17 years) in border districts of Uganda (Busia and Tororo). Results indicated that 61% of children reported to having received parentchild communication on SRH. Communication was more likely to happen among children living in urban areas (OR=4.88; 95% CI=1.79-13.33), boys (OR=1.84; 95% CI=1.13-3.00), those aged 15- 19 years (OR=2.59; 95% CI=1.51-4.46) and among children from households that owned a mobile phone (OR=2.11; 95% CI=1.05- 4.21) than their counterparts. Parent-child communication was also higher among children who were comfortable discussing SRH issues (OR=27.12; 95% CI=16.02-45.89) and children from Tororo district (OR=2.34; 95% CI=1.36-4.01). The findings provide a rich understanding of the factors associated with Parent-child communication in the border districts of Uganda. These results provide a basis for policy enactment or revision regarding the encouragement of parent-child communication about SRH in Uganda.