Exploring Providers’ Perception Towards Provision of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services for Unmarried Adolescents in Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

Background

Healthcare providers play a critical role in the provision of sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents. In Ethiopia, due to different reasons, including healthcare providers associated reasons, most unmarried adolescents are not accessing the services. However, little is known about healthcare providers’ perception towards the provision of SRH services for unmarried adolescents. This study aimed to explore healthcare provider perception towards the provision of SRH services to unmarried adolescents in Gamo zone, Southern Ethiopia.

Methods

A qualitative phenomenological research design was used in May 2021. Fifteen healthcare providers (HCPs) working in adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health centers were involved in this study. A purposive sampling technique was used to select healthcare providers assuming they are “information-rich” regarding the phenomenon of interest. Inclusion of the study participants was continued until data saturation is reached. To analyze the data, we used inductive thematic analysis, method, and main themes, which captured the diverse views and feelings of the participants. To maintain the trustworthiness of the data, we used dependability, transferability, conformability, and credibility.

Results

In this study, individual-level attributes such as healthcare provider’s personal belief, attitude, and motivation; community-level influences like socio-cultural norms, religious reasons, and lack of parental support; and health system setbacks like shortage of essential medical supplies and lack of training are identified as major obstacles in the provision of sexual and reproductive health services for unmarried adolescents.

Conclusion

Provision of sexual and reproductive health services for unmarried adolescents is constrained by the interplay of factors acting at an individual level, community level, and health system level. The Ministry of Health (MOH), program planners and policymakers are recommended to give due attention to fulfill the necessary inputs, improving healthcare provider’s attitude and skill and engagement of religious and community leaders to create a safe and supportive environment for providing sexual and reproductive health services to unmarried adolescents.

Keywords:

• healthcare provider
• perception
• sexual and reproductive health services
• unmarried adolescents
• Gamo Zone
• Southern Ethiopia

Ethical Consideration

Before the actual data collection, ethical approval was secured from Arba Minch College of Health Sciences research and ethical review directorate. After explaining the purpose of the study, permission to conduct this study was granted by the respective city administration health

offices and district health officers. Finally, written informed consent was obtained from each study participant after clearly describing the aim of the study. To keep confidentiality and anonymity we used a code to label the healthcare provider and their respective health facility. The study participants also agreed to publish their responses for better improvement of the Adolescent Health program. All recommended COVID-19 prevention measures were applied to protect the data. The suspected cases were linked with the nearby health facility COVID-19 task forces. Besides, this study was conducted following the Declaration of Helsinki, and all ethical and professional considerations were followed throughout the study to keep participants’ data strictly confidential.

Acknowledgments

The research team would like to thank the School of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wolaita Sodo University for giving the chance to develop this PhD dissertation. Also, we would like to thank Arba Minch Health Science College and PHARMA College for their support during the proposal development, and facilitating the logistics for the data collection. We would like to extend our gratitude to research assistants (Bilcha Oumer, Sultan Hussen, and Abdulselem Turke) who helped us during the data collection process and English language edition. Finally, we thank all study participants who gave their precious time to respond to our questions.

Disclosure

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest for this work nor concerning the research, authorship, and publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication of this article.