Assessment of Factors Influencing Sexual Reproductive Health Communication between Parents and Adolescents in Tabora Region

Abstract

The study assessed the factors influencing Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) communication between adolescents and Parents in Tabora region. It adopted a mixed study design whereby both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection were used in the field. The general objective of the study is to provide an understanding on the factors influencing parent-adolescent communication on sexual and reproductive health behaviours in Tanzania. The specific objective of the study was to assess the factors influencing parent-adolescent communication on SRH in Nzega District. It also used in-depth interview, focused group discussion and observation to answer the research objective. The results indicated that, communication on SRH were gender sensitive with more communication between female adolescents and mothers leaving male adolescents with low levels of communication with both parents. This was the result of gender gap in children grooming which attach a big role to mothers than fathers. Apart from that religion was also found to be an important predictor of SRH communication between parents and adolescents. Moreover, parents’ attitude on the importance of SRH communication and their perceived ability to communicate SRH topics with adolescents also predicted the levels of communication concerning SRH because positive parents’ attitudes and perceptions were associated with high levels of SRH communication. The study recommends that SRH should be strengthened at community level to reduce early adolescent child birth and maternal mortality. Also, it concludes that SRH communication is essential for raising awareness on issues of reproductive health which govern future population growth. Therefore, it should be enhanced through promoting positive parents’ attitude and perception towards such communications.