Nurses' perceptions of adolescents accessing and utilizing sexual and reproductive healthcare services in Cape Town, South Africa: a qualitative study
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Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
Background: In Sub-Saharan Africa access to and utilization of sexual and reproductive
healthcare is unsatisfactory. Consequently, rates of teenage pregnancy and unsafe abortions among
adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa, including in South Africa remain a public health challenge.
The aim of this study was to explore nurses' views on and perceptions of adolescent girls' barriers
and needs to accessing and utilizing sexual and reproductive healthcare services.
Methods: Twenty-four purposively selected healthcare workers from nine public healthcare
facilities in Cape Town, South Africa participated in this qualitative descriptive study. Data were
collected through nine group discussions, and audio-recorded with hand-written notes taken during
the discussions. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, following the Tesch's eight steps for
coding and analysing qualitative data. Results: Sexual and reproductive healthcare nurses are generally supportive of adolescents who
ask for and use contraceptives. Non-compliance to family planning regimens and repeated requests
for termination of pregnancies were perceived by nurses as irresponsible behaviours which are
particularly frustrating to them and not in concordance with their personal values. The subsequent
nurse-adolescent interactions sometimes appeared to hinder access to and utilization of sexual and
reproductive healthcare services by adolescents.
Conclusions: Nurses perceive certain behaviours of adolescent girls as irresponsible and warrant
their negative attitudes and reactions toward them. The negative attitudes and reactions of nurses
potentially further compromises access to and utilization of sexual and reproductive healthcare
services by adolescent girls in South Africa and requires urgent attention. Adolescent-friendly
clinic hours together with youth-friendly nurses is likely to encourage adolescent girls to access
sexual and reproductive healthcare services and improve the use thereof.
Description
This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication
Keywords
Adolescents, Behaviour, Family planning, Healthcare workers, Compliance, Provider perspectives, Sexual and reproductive healthcare, Termination of pregnancy
Citation
Jonas, K, et al (2019) Nurses' perceptions of adolescents accessing and utilizing sexual and reproductive healthcare services in Cape Town, South Africa: a qualitative study. International Journal of Nursing Studies (2019), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2019.05.008