The barriers to access for maternal health care amongst pregnant adolescents in the Mitchells Plain Sub-district
Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: Background and aim: Adolescent pregnancy holds numerous health and social risks for mother and child.Adolescent access to maternal health services is of vital importance to ensure that pregnant adolescents receive timely and effective health care.Evidence suggests that adolescents tend to seek medical care late in their pregnancies and attend fewer than the recommended four antenatal visits.This results in missed opportunities to improve maternal and newborn health due to untreated sexually transmitted diseases and uninhibited mother-to-child HIV transmission, resulting in low birth weight among other poor pregnancy outcomes.Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of adolescent births worldwide, in keeping with evidence that low-to-middle income countries have the highest rates of adolescent pregnancy.Adolescent pregnancy in South Africa remains a public health concern, and the Mitchells Plain sub-district has a particularly high rate of adolescent pregnancy.The aim of this study was thus to explore the barriers to access for maternal health care services amongst pregnant adolescents in the Mitchells Plain sub-district.Methodology: This study used an exploratory qualitative design to explore the views of participants.Purposive sampling was used to select participants.In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 pregnant adolescents at the Mitchells Plain Maternity and Obstetrics Unit (MOU), as well as 2 nursing staff working at Mitchells Plain MOU.Interviews were recorded and transcribed by the researcher herself.The thematic coding approach was then used to analyse the data.Results: Results showed that fear of disclosing pregnancy, negative response to pregnancy disclosure, and feelings of shock and disbelief in response to pregnancy served as barriers to access to maternal health care services amongst pregnant adolescents.Negative perceptions of maternal health care services also served as a barrier to access to maternal health care services amongst pregnant adolescents.Negative perceptions included expected mistreatment by nursing staff and expected long waiting times.Many participants also reported poor knowledge of maternal health care services, which was a barrier to access to maternal health care services.Facilitators to access to maternal health care services included support and advice from parents or guardians, as http://etd.uwc.ac.za iv well as positive interactions with nursing staff.The support from parents and guardians often occurred after an initial negative response to disclosure of the pregnancy.Conclusion and recommendations: Access to maternal health care services amongst pregnant adolescents is influenced by numerous factors.Societal norms and expectations about adolescent childbearing and knowledge about maternal health care services stand out as key factors in facilitating or hindering access to maternal health care services amongst pregnant adolescents.It is recommended that an inter-sectoral approach be adopted in improving access to maternal health care services amongst pregnant adolescents.This includes incorporating maternal health education into school's life skills curriculum, a well-functioning referral pathway between schools and clinic to facilitate early access to maternal health care services, as well as involvement by the social development sector to facilitate pregnancy disclosure for pregnant adolescents who fear negative response to disclosure of the pregnancy from their parents or guardians.
Author: Michelle Olivia Erasmus
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2783870066