Focus Group Discussion. Key informants were more critical of the information that was presented in the schools. The older key informants who had more experience working in sexual health overwhelmingly pointed out the failures of the sexual education curriculum. One doctor said that although the school health curriculum discusses STIs and pregnancy, it does not discuss how to prevent pregnancy. Others stated that teachers were supposed to present SRH lessons but were often too embarrassed to present them thoroughly. The younger group of key informants, all staff at Mil Solidarios, thought that students did receive information about contraceptives and condoms in school, but the problem lay in the practice. They said that students were taught about contraceptives at school but weren’t taught how to use them. Several of the key informants also believed that schools needed a more rights-based approach to sexual education and should teach students how to resist pressure. Key informants also mentioned that teenagers received information from health centers or directly from workshops that Mil Solidarios’ staff presented focusing on the consequences of early sexual initiation and how to use condoms. At the same time, they admitted that they couldn’t focus wholeheartedly on sexual education because of the controversial nature of the topic in the country. At school they receive very little information. I’m not sure if you’re heard what the Xxxxx Xxxxxx for sexual education is, but it has been stopped by the House of Representatives and the senators who are in reality a group of conservative politicians. But we…the little information that the kids receive in schools combined with a little bit of what we tell them, which isn’t very open either, but we have had workshops about those things with them, about sexuality, diseases. That’s all the information they have.
Focus Group Discussion. One mother expressed her worry that her son was just humoring her rather than actually listening to what she had to say. On the other hand, when asked how they felt talking to their children, the mothers in one group said they felt good talking to their children because they knew they were helping prepare them for their future. One mother said she felt as if her conversation opened up the opportunity for conversations in the future.
Focus Group Discussion. This deliverable will include a report summarizing the significant findings, a focus group guide, a sampling/ recruitment methodology, and transcripts in the original language and video or audio records.
Focus Group Discussion. Adult women and men from catchment areas with common unintended pregnancies who were guardians to patients admitted to the district hospital were purposively recruited for FGDs. The hospital was used to recruit a sufficient number of adult participants for the FGDs because they were waiting for visiting hours to see patients and were therefore readily available. Additionally, being the biggest public hospital in the district, it was a convenient venue for recruiting participants from the eligible catchment areas. We engaged participants from different areas with high unintended pregnancy occurrence within the district to increase variation in participants. For FGDs with adults, we used gate keepers and snowballing. The gate keepers identified participants who in turn identified other participants. For each identified participant, we verified whether they came from one of the specified regions with high unintended pregnancies. The participants did not know each other before meeting at the hospital. Furthermore, youths were purposively recruited from two youth clubs. We conducted FGDs with these youth group members from different rural areas within the district who were involved with youth activities within their catchment areas. Because they were in contact with their peers, they were more likely to have diverse information on practices and norms among the youths. One youth focus group comprised participants from a religious youth organization while the other was from a non-religious organization. The District Youth Friendly Health Services coordinator identified the youth groups, and the chairperson from these youth groups invited eligible participants from different rural villages to participate in the study. Thus, we used informal networks to recruit the youths.
