How Tay adolescent girls and their female carers navigate sexual and reproductive health information

Abstract

Achieving equity in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes for adolescents across geography, ethnicity, and gender remains a global public health challenge. Access to accurate information is a basic and important determinant of SRH, but for many young people, social norms and expectations limit what they can access. We know little about how SRH knowledge is accessed in the Asia Pacific, a region diversely rich in culture and related norms, and with persistently wide inequities in SRH outcomes. This study conducted face-to-face interviews with 20 adolescent girls (16-18 years) and their female carers (n = 20) from the Tay community-the largest ethnic minority group in Vietnam. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to construct three themes from the data. First, SRH issues relating to pre-marital sex, unwanted pregnancy, and the repercussions were the most important topics for adolescent girls and their female carers. Second, SRH topics were considered sensitive and personal, inhibiting interpersonal communication about SRH between women, their families, and across generations. Third, adolescent girls were accessing conflicting SRH information from a diverse range of sources, and both adolescent girls and female carers were reliant on SRH sources online. There is an opportunity to ensure reliable SRH information is available through a variety of sources: by focussing content and delivery of comprehensive sexuality education on pregnancy prevention at the high school level, contextualizing community-based health promotion to address sensitivities around SRH, and expanding national-level programmes to provide online safety skills and digital literacy for adolescents and parents.

Keywords: adolescent girls; female carers; intergenerational communication; sexual and reproductive health information; social norms.