Original Research

Adolescent pregnancy prevention in rural Indonesia: a participatory action research

AUTHORS

name here
Diyan Ermawan Effendi
1 MGen & AppLing (Adv.), Research Associate * ORCID logo

name here
Lestari Handayani
2 MD, M.Med(PH), Professor

name here
Arief P Nugroho
3 MA, Research Associate

name here
Iswari Hariastuti
4 SKM, M.Kes., Research Associate

AFFILIATIONS

1, 2, 3 National Institute of Health Research and Development, Ministry of Health of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia

4 Indonesia National Population and Family Planning Board, East Java Region, Surabaya, Indonesia

ACCEPTED: 18 June 2021

Diyan Effendi: Adolescent pregnancy prevention in rural Indonesia: a participatory action research


early abstract:

Background: Adolescent pregnancy remains a thorny issue in developing countries, including Indonesia. Pregnancy at an early age is a risk factor for maternal and infant mortality. A recent report indicates that adolescent pregnancy is even higher in rural areas. Therefore, this study aims to identify factors associated with adolescent pregnancy in rural Indonesia and formulate intervention actions to reduce the teenage pregnancy rate.
Methods: Participatory Action Research (PAR) was conducted in the rural area of Mesuji Regency, Lampung Province, Indonesia. Six meetings, including four focus group discussions (FGDs), were held. The FGDs were audio-recorded and transcribed for inductive analysis. Themes emergent from the data were discussed with the local collaborators to achieve agreement.
Results: Five factors were identified as determinants of adolescent pregnancy. They were low uptake of reproductive health services, low educational attainment, juvenile delinquency, poverty, and social and cultural norms. The actions of intervention taken included income generation and reproductive health education.
Discussion: This study verifies previous studies' findings, which denote that adolescent pregnancy determinants are mostly socioeconomic factors. These findings are essential since adolescents in this study setting endure significant disparities in health services and socioeconomics opportunities. Without sufficient intervention derived from these adolescents' needs and perceptions, the gap will continue to grow.
Conclusion: Socioeconomic factors influence adolescent pregnancy. Cross-sectoral cooperation and active community participation are needed to address the problem. PAR is useful to explore the causes of health issues and promote active community participation.