Protecting Their Daughters with Knowledge: Understanding Refugee Parental Consent for a U.S.-Based Teen Sexual Health Program

Due to limited knowledge and exposure to sexual health information, refugee adolescent girls need health education programming and research studies that oftentimes require parental consent. We sought to understand the parental consent decision-making process of thirteen refugee parents from eight di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAmerican journal of sexuality education Vol. 17; no. 4; pp. 474 - 489
Main Authors Morrison-Beedy, Dianne, Ewart, Abigail, Ross, Samiha, Wegener, Rachel, Spitz, Alison
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Taylor & Francis 02.10.2022
Subjects
Access to Information
Adolescents
Affordances
Barriers
Comprehension
Congruence (Psychology)
Cultural Differences
Daughters
Decision Making
Health Promotion
Informed Consent
Knowledge Level
Parent Role
Refugees
Sexuality
Georgia (Atlanta)
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Summary:Due to limited knowledge and exposure to sexual health information, refugee adolescent girls need health education programming and research studies that oftentimes require parental consent. We sought to understand the parental consent decision-making process of thirteen refugee parents from eight different countries who consented for their 15-17-year-old daughters to participate in a sexual health promotion program. Interviews with eight mothers and five fathers provided insight into motivations and concerns driving their decision, as well as barriers and facilitators for obtaining consent. In-depth qualitative thematic analysis revealed five predominant themes: (1) Protecting our daughters with knowledge; (2) A different country, a different approach to protection; (3) Consent and understanding can be different; (4) Parents cannot do it all; and (5) My daughter gained a voice. These findings are useful for developing consent protocols and tailored programming to meet the needs of this understudied population.
ISSN:1554-6128
DOI:10.1080/15546128.2022.2052217