An ecological perspective of adolescents' need for support during pregnancy

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: According to South African policy documents, social welfare services, health care providersand schools should place special focus on supporting pregnant adolescents to avoid thepossible deleterious effects of early unplanned pregnancies. This implies that pregnantadolescents require support, from multiple levels, in order to adjust positively to theirpregnancy so as to promote their well-being and the well-being of their unborn child.This study explores and describes the support needs of pregnant adolescents in three lowincomecommunities. This was done by examining the support that was currently availableand utilised by pregnant adolescents, as well as identifying areas that required improvedsupport. By adopting an ecological approach to the study, the need for support could beinvestigated on multiple levels.A combination of a quantitative and qualitative research approach was used in the study. Thestudy further assumed an exploratory and descriptive research design in order to provide adetailed description of the phenomenon being studied, namely adolescent pregnancy. Datawas gathered by means of a semi-structured questionnaire, which was administered during anindividual interview. This allowed for data to be collected that was both measurable as wellas rich in description. The design of the semi-structured questionnaire was based on theinformation obtained from the literature review.The findings of the empirical investigation reveal that adolescents have limited knowledge offormal support services, particularly social welfare services, support groups and health careservices, which results in poor utilisation of these services. Consequently, limited support isattributed to these particular services.The findings further indicate that informal sources of support, such as family, friends andpartners, were relatively supportive during the adolescent's pregnancy. However, theadolescents' relationships with their parents and partners were particularly strained during thepregnancy, especially the relationship with their father. Of significance is the finding thatfathers were considered those who offered the adolescents the least amount of support duringthe pregnancy.As a result of their pregnancy, the adolescents were stigmatised on multiple levels. There wasstigmatisation from their friends and peers at school, which had an impact on their socialadjustment. Stigma experienced at health care services led to chastising experiences, whichdeterred the adolescents from utilising such services. Furthermore, pregnant adolescents arestigmatised by their community, and the widespread judgement leads to increased tension andapprehension when seeking formal and informal support.The most important recommendations resulting from the study indicate that many resourcesof support would be better utilised during pregnancy if adolescents had greater knowledge ofthe support available to them. This is of particular significance with regard to social welfareservices, which play a key role in educating adolescents, their parents and the communityabout sexuality, adolescent pregnancy and the significance of support.In addition, the recommendations emphasise the importance of promoting and facilitatingpeer education and support services, which could be of great value for pregnant adolescents.Receiving support and education from peers can be highly effective, but also allows pregnantadolescents to make a valuable contribution to other adolescents in similar situations. Indoing so, pregnant adolescents are empowered and encouraged, which is much needed in anenvironment where they are typically shunned and branded as failures.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University