Nurses’ perceptions of adolescents accessing and utilizing sexualand reproductive healthcare services in Cape Town, South Africa: A qualitative study

Abstract

n Sub-Saharan Africa access to and utilization of sexual and reproductive healthcare isunsatisfactory. Consequently, rates of teenage pregnancy and unsafe abortions among adolescents inSub-Saharan Africa, including in South Africa remain a public health challenge. The aim of this study wasto explore nurses’ views on and perceptions of adolescent girls’ barriers and needs to accessing andutilizing sexual and reproductive healthcare services.Twenty-four purposively selected healthcare workers from nine public healthcare facilities inCape Town, South Africa participated in this qualitative descriptive study. Data were collected throughnine group discussions, and audio-recorded with hand-written notes taken during the discussions. Datawere analyzed using thematic analysis, following the Tesch’s eight steps for coding and analysingqualitative data.