Challenges and obstacles of mother-daughter sexual communication among Thai rural communities: an exploratory study
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Abstract
This qualitative study explores the challenges and obstacles of mother-daughter sexual communication among Thai rural communities. In-depth interviews were conducted with the selected group of 33 dyads of mothers-daughters. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were also conducted among five healthcare providers (HCPs) and school teachers. The interviews and FGDs were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed using content analysis. The results found that mothers had insufficient sexual knowledge and lack communication skills. Most mothers never talked about safe sex, birth control, and condom use in the family. They thought their daughters were too young to learn about safe sex. They were afraid that it might guide their daughters to have sexand thought that their daughters will learn about sex when they marry, and sex education is not a parental duty. Mothers' beliefs on sex issues are not to be discussed openly, even in the family. Persons who talk about sex were sensual people.
Daughters addressed the fact that the mothers were seldom present and didn’t show love by words or manner. They still blame and hit daughters for a severe argument. Besides, parents’ quarrels created a bad family climate and made daughters unhappy to talk with their parents. Daughters still never talk about safe sex, birth control, and condom use with their mothers. Furthermore, the content of sex education in the family was based on maternal experiences. Most of the teaching and learning patterns of sex education in school were lectures, and the contents were physiology development and sexual desire. The challenges and obstacles of mother-daughter sexual communication were poor maternal sexual knowledge, maternal attitudes toward sexual communication, mother-daughter relationship, and family atmosphere. These findings will be used for developing the mother-daughter dyads’ relationship model to prevent pregnancy in early adolescence.
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