Sex Education In Ghana: The Perspectives Of Adolescents And Parents

Abstract

The extant literature has explored sex education from the perspectives of adolescents, but the views of parents are largely neglected. The few studies that have examined the views of both parents and children are selective in scope, coverage, and assessment. Thus, there is a dearth of data on the type of topics discussed and the frequency of parent-child sexual communication. The present study sought to explore adolescents' and parents' perspectives on sex education. To achieve this aim, a qualitative research design with a semi-structured interview was employed. Thirty parents and adolescents were conveniently sampled from Ablekuma South Metropolis, in the Greater Accra Region. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used in analysing the data. Three superordinate themes were extracted from the data. Participants’ responses generally clustered around parent-child sex communication, perception of sex education, and impact of sex education. It was recommended that stakeholders ought to institutionalize diverse behaviour change interventions such as interpersonal communication and adult role modeling (in which adults share their experiences of navigating adolescence, with a focus on sexual abstinence). The Ghana Health Service must collaborate with the Ghana Psychological Association to organize training programs aimed at empowering youth to develop and acquire personal skills such as assertiveness training, refusal skills, and goal setting.