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“What We Think About Them?”— A Qualitative Study Addressing Perception of Parents and Teachers About Adolescent Upbringing in Coastal Karnataka

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Abstract

Background

The role of parents is very pivotal in a child’s overall development. Discussing about adolescent changes especially reproductive health (RH) is still considered a taboo in our society. Even imparting sex education at schools has remained a debatable topic in India. The aim of our study was to study the perception of parents and teachers about adolescent upbringing with a special focus on RH, services and schemes provided for RH of adolescents.

Methods

A qualitative study was conducted in rural–urban settings in two districts of Coastal Karnataka. By the technique of stratified purposeful sampling, 50 parents and 40 teachers in the age group of 30–60 years participated in 10 focus group discussions (FGD). All participants were related to adolescents. For data collection, a pre-tested FGD guide was used. All tape-recorded data was fully transcribed and thematic analysis was done.

Result

Bad peer company, excessive restrictions, bad habits, misconceptions about sex, mobiles, internet-negative influence, and sexual harassment were few factors that parents were worried about. When compared to males, they believed that female adolescents suffer both physically and mentally. Male adolescents do not have any “reproductive health problems”. All parents were unaware of any health care services provided for adolescents by the government.

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Acknowledgements

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR:HSR/Adhoc/39/2013) for providing financial assistance to this study. All participants take part in the study. Manipal University for providing the research infrastructure

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal University, Manipal, India

    Asha Hegde

  2. Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Manipal, 576104, India

    Avinash Shetty, Veena G Kamath, Asha Kamath, Kallol Roy & Laxminarayan MSW

  3. Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal University, Manipal, India

    Unnikrishnan B

  4. Department of Public Health, Manipal University, Manipal, India

    Lena Ashok

Authors
  1. Asha Hegde
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  2. Avinash Shetty
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  3. Veena G Kamath
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  4. Unnikrishnan B
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  5. Asha Kamath
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  6. Kallol Roy
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  7. Lena Ashok
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  8. Laxminarayan MSW
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kallol Roy.

Ethics declarations

This study was funded by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) grant number (ICMR:HSR/Adhoc/39/2013).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

Informed consent from all study participants was obtained prior to the study. Institutional ethical clearance (ICMR:HSR / Adhoc/39/ 2013) was obtained before the study. Each participant was first provided with explanation of the purpose, general consent, and time commitment involved in participating in the discussion, and assurance of confidentiality.

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Hegde, A., Shetty, A., Kamath, V.G. et al. “What We Think About Them?”— A Qualitative Study Addressing Perception of Parents and Teachers About Adolescent Upbringing in Coastal Karnataka. Glob Soc Welf 4, 141–147 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-017-0080-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-017-0080-x

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