Sexual and reproductive health communication between parents and adolescents: the case of Wa West District of the Upper West Region, Ghana

Abstract

Background: Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) communication is an important conversation challenge between parents and their
adolescent children. Studies have established that parent-adolescent communication about sex can greatly reduce adolescents' risky  sexual behaviour. Factors such as attitude, religious beliefs, perceived behavioural control, and behavioural intentions have been  reported to affect parent-adolescent communication.

Objective: This study assessed the communication practices between adolescents and their parents in the Wa West District in the Upper West Region of Ghana and factors that may be associated with this communication process.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study design was employed using a four-stage sampling technique. A total of 420 parents with adolescents aged 10 to 19 years were recruited to answer structured questions using Somers and Canivez's sexual communication  tool. The tool yielded sexual communication mean scores. The analysis of variance test was used to compare mean scores. Binary logistic  regression was used to determine possible factors affecting SRH communications. All analyses were done using IBM SPSS Statistics  (Version 25).

Results: The study found that most of the respondents had good communication on sexual and reproductive health with  their adolescents. There was a significant difference between Dagaabas and the other ethnic groups (p = 0.025, 95% confidence interval  (95% CI) = 0.05 - 1.25), between public sector employees and farmers (p = 0.008, 95% CI = 0.07 - 0.90), and between Christians and  Muslims (p = 0.032, 95% CI = 0.01 - 0.38) on SRH communication.

Conclusion: Though parents' communication with adolescents was  good, health stakeholders need to empower parents with information on sexual and reproductive health to ensure effective counselling  of their adolescents.