| dc.description.abstract | The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) proclaimed that children are
entitled to special protection, care and assistance. The 1995 Uganda Constitution, Chapter IV,
article 34 and Children’s (amendment) Act 2016, outlaw any child rights violation including
child pregnancy and marriage. Unfortunately, nearly three in every ten adolescent girls of 15 to
19 years have a child of their own. The high prevalence of adolescent pregnancy and adolescent
repeat pregnancies are associated with escalating social and economic burdens that affect the
adolescents, their families, and society at large. The objective of the study was to assess the role
of family as a support institution in the prevention of adolescents’ repeat pregnancy. The study
specifically intended to; 1) establish the causes of adolescents’ repeat pregnancies, 2) establish
the family support assets that can be utilized by adolescents to prevent repeat pregnancy; 3)
explore the nexus between family support and repeat pregnancies among adolescents and 4)
establish the challenges family faces in reducing repeat pregnancy among adolescent mothers.
The research was qualitative in nature and provided the researcher with an opportunity to get an
in-depth understanding of the repeat pregnancy phenomena. The researcher collected data from
UYDEL centers in urban and rural areas of Kampala and Mityana districts. The research targeted
33 adolescents that had experienced repeat pregnancies, 24 adolescent mothers, and 10 pregnant
adolescents and 20 key informants using purposive and convenience sampling techniques. The
study findings indicated that lack of family support makes adolescents’ mothers vulnerable to a
repeat pregnancy. Family support to the adolescents with repeat pregnancy is weak because
several adolescents at UYDEL centers were not supported by their families to prevent repeat
pregnancy. However, respondents noted that families were somewhat supportive to their
adolescents for the first pregnancies but they did not take them back to school, provide them
capital to start business, mentor them and take care of the adolescents children to allow them
start some developmental work. Several adolescents that experienced repeat pregnancy lacked
essential information, guidance on sexual reproductive health services and role models from their
family members, something that increased their risk to pregnancies. From the study, adolescents
are at risk given the challenges to information dissemination and service delivery in Kampala
and Mityana slums, but this is also associated with family poverty, unemployment, transactional
sex among adolescents. As a result, many adolescents that are not in school experience early
pregnancy and are more likely to experience repeat pregnancy while trying to fend for their first
child. Adolescents’ mother attested to lack of parental and family support as one of the main
reasons why they experienced adolescent repeat pregnancy. This study concluded that,
adolescent mothers are at high risk of a repeat pregnancy if not supported by their families to
become resilient by building a safety net around them. Most adolescents that experience repeat
pregnancy are not supported by their family as a support institution. The study therefore
recommends that the parents need to be sensitized about building assets for their adolescents
through positive parenting, parent child interaction and sharing information about the risks of
engaging in sexual behaviors that lead to early pregnancy. Family support is crucial in
motivating adolescents to become resilient, by providing adolescents socio-economic security
through taking them back to school, transmission of values, protection and showing affection for
positive value formation for rehabilitation and reintegration into the community | en_US |
