Abstract

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.

摘要

由于对性健康信息的了解和接触有限，难民少女需要健康教育计划和研究，这通常需要父母同意。我们试图了解来自 8 个不同国家的 13 名难民父母同意其 15-17 岁女儿参加性健康促进计划的父母同意决策过程。对八位母亲和五位父亲的采访深入了解了推动他们做出决定的动机和担忧，以及获得同意的障碍和促进因素。深入的定性主题分析揭示了五个主要主题：（1）用知识保护我们的女儿；(2)不同的国家，不同的保护方式；(3)同意和理解可以不同；(4)父母不能包办；(5)我的女儿获得了发言权。这些发现对于开发同意协议和量身定制的编程来满足这一未被充分研究的人群的需求很有用。