An alternative approach to a complex issue: Youth-designed strategies for the prevention of teenage pregnancy in schools
Teenage pregnancy of school-going girls is a persistent concern, not only in South Africa, but globally. Despite various curricular responses aimed at educating young people about prevention, the numbers continue to rise. While recognising the intersectionality of teenage pregnancy, we believe that...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of the Free State
2018-06-01
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| Series: | Perspectives in Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/pie/article/view/3449 |
| _version_ | 1797265594460930048 |
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| author | F. Hendricks L. Wood |
| author_facet | F. Hendricks L. Wood |
| author_sort | F. Hendricks |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Teenage pregnancy of school-going girls is a persistent concern, not only in South Africa, but globally. Despite various curricular responses aimed at educating young people about prevention, the numbers continue to rise. While recognising the intersectionality of teenage pregnancy, we believe that school-based prevention measures can play an important role in helping youth to make healthy decisions about their sexual behaviour. However, the effectiveness of the prevention messages depends on how they are designed and delivered. Using a participatory action research design, we engaged 24 peer educators in a process of data generation and analysis to help them to design, implement and evaluate prevention strategies that were found to be youth-friendly, contextualised and culturally relevant. This approach benefitted not only the participating youth in terms of the development of specific life skills, but also influenced how they, their peers and teachers began to think differently about the issue of teenage pregnancy. The research also influenced change in school policy. The findings thus indicate that the involvement of youth in finding ways to address issues that affect their lives may be an important way to improve the effectiveness of such programmes.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T04:41:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-489a8629cb534113b5a022c0582d0986 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0258-2236 2519-593X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-25T00:47:17Z |
| publishDate | 2018-06-01 |
| publisher | University of the Free State |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Perspectives in Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-489a8629cb534113b5a022c0582d09862024-03-11T23:06:51ZengUniversity of the Free StatePerspectives in Education0258-22362519-593X2018-06-01351An alternative approach to a complex issue: Youth-designed strategies for the prevention of teenage pregnancy in schoolsF. Hendricks0L. Wood1Nelson Mandela University, South AfricaNorth-West University, South Africa Teenage pregnancy of school-going girls is a persistent concern, not only in South Africa, but globally. Despite various curricular responses aimed at educating young people about prevention, the numbers continue to rise. While recognising the intersectionality of teenage pregnancy, we believe that school-based prevention measures can play an important role in helping youth to make healthy decisions about their sexual behaviour. However, the effectiveness of the prevention messages depends on how they are designed and delivered. Using a participatory action research design, we engaged 24 peer educators in a process of data generation and analysis to help them to design, implement and evaluate prevention strategies that were found to be youth-friendly, contextualised and culturally relevant. This approach benefitted not only the participating youth in terms of the development of specific life skills, but also influenced how they, their peers and teachers began to think differently about the issue of teenage pregnancy. The research also influenced change in school policy. The findings thus indicate that the involvement of youth in finding ways to address issues that affect their lives may be an important way to improve the effectiveness of such programmes. http://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/pie/article/view/3449Participatory action researchParticipatory videoPhoto voiceSexuality education |
| spellingShingle | F. Hendricks L. Wood An alternative approach to a complex issue: Youth-designed strategies for the prevention of teenage pregnancy in schools Perspectives in Education Participatory action research Participatory video Photo voice Sexuality education |
| title | An alternative approach to a complex issue: Youth-designed strategies for the prevention of teenage pregnancy in schools |
| title_full | An alternative approach to a complex issue: Youth-designed strategies for the prevention of teenage pregnancy in schools |
| title_fullStr | An alternative approach to a complex issue: Youth-designed strategies for the prevention of teenage pregnancy in schools |
| title_full_unstemmed | An alternative approach to a complex issue: Youth-designed strategies for the prevention of teenage pregnancy in schools |
| title_short | An alternative approach to a complex issue: Youth-designed strategies for the prevention of teenage pregnancy in schools |
| title_sort | alternative approach to a complex issue youth designed strategies for the prevention of teenage pregnancy in schools |
| topic | Participatory action research Participatory video Photo voice Sexuality education |
| url | http://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/pie/article/view/3449 |
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