The Influence of Culture, Religion, and Parenting Styles On Reproductive Health Education Access For Adolescents Living in The Caribbean Islands.

Johanne Jeudy

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Elizabeth Aquino, PhD, RN

The Influence of Culture, Religion, and Parenting Styles On Reproductive Health Education Access For Adolescents Living in The Caribbean Islands.

Background: One of the highest contributors to maternal and child mortality is teen pregnancy. Increased attention on sexual and reproductive health for adolescents is beneficial because this stage of development covers social, physiological, and cognitive changes that implicate their well-being not only in the moment but for the rest of their lives. This focus and acknowledgement on reproductive health education will not only benefit adolescents but will help to reinforce health, gender equality, and empowerment of young women worldwide.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify different factors that play significant roles on reproductive health education access among adolescents living in the Caribbean Islands and to identify culturally appropriate prevention interventions tailored to meet the specific needs of adolescents from these specific regions.

Method: An integrative literature review was conducted. A total of 17 relevant articles were evaluated.

Findings/Results: Many factors such as religion, culture, and parenting styles have shown to influence reproductive health education access for adolescents living in the Caribbean Islands. Many parents lack education to provide reproductive health education to their adolescents, if they are educated on such topic, some are reluctant to bring up such topic to their adolescents. A common attribute is religious practice. The two primary practices that influence parent-child relationship are Church of God and Pentecostal Christian Church. They believe they are saved and their bodies are vessels of the Holy Ghost which prohibits sexual activities. Many other religions disapprove the use of condom which make adolescents more susceptible to STIs and pregnancy. Lastly, cultural myths such as; if one contracts an STI, one can get rid of it by being sexually involved with a virgin. Also many boys are expected to have sex with multiple partners to show their masculinity in the Jamaican culture. Contrary, girls should stay pure until marriage. Prevention programs such as parent-children workshop and Young Focus Group have been shown to bring awareness and coaching activities to strengthen parenting skills and relationships. Results showed a significant delay in sexual progression behaviors in adolescents by improving STIs knowledge and proper the use of condom.

Conclusion: Based on these findings, there is great need for sexual reproductive health education and interventions programs in the Caribbean due to increased threats of STIs on adolescents and early teen pregnancy. This is a universal issue because of the increasing number of immigrants from all over the world to the U.S. That poses new challenges to healthcare providers in negotiating potential cultural influences on adolescent risk behaviors such as substance abuse and sexual risk-taking. Given the different influencing factors identified in this review, culturally sensitive programs must be part of nursing education to be able to influence adolescent health.