The social support network of teenage mothers in Botshabelo

[摘要] A qualitative and quantitative approach was chosen together with an exploratory anddescriptive design in order to obtain knowledge, insight and understanding regarding theutilization of social support network of teenage mothers in Botshabelo. It is necessary forsocial workers to identify the social support systems that exist in a social support network ofteenage mothers in order to select those systems which would be relevant to meet the needs ofteenage mothers. The aim of this study is to present guidelines for social workers to empowerteenage mothers to utilize social support networks to fulfil their roles as parents.A sample of ten teenage mothers (14 years to 19 years of age) who are from the service areaat the J clinic in Botshabelo was involved in the study. A qualitative investigation was carriedout by means of conducting interviews with the aid of a semi-structured interview guide.The responses of the participants and the findings of the study were analyzed and comparedwith the findings of previous studies. The results of the investigation confirmed that thefindings of the literature study namely that teenage parenting severely impacts dailyfunctioning of teenage mothers. These challenges include aspects related to financialproblems, responding to the baby's needs, attending classes or seeking for a job, whileexpected to play a mother's role at the same time.The results of the study gave an indication of the nature of social work intervention that isneeded for this target group: talking to someone, distributing information regarding teenageparenting, distributing information regarding available services, participating in a supportgroup and learning to cope with daily activities. The findings of the research can be used asguidelines by social workers who need to empower teenage mothers to utilize their socialsupport network.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University