Opinions of Key Stakeholders on Support for Pregnant School Learners in North West Province

Aim: The aim of the study is to explore the opinions of key stakeholders such as school learners, parents, and community nurses regarding learner pregnancy support in schools. The study was conducted at a municipality in North West province, South Africa.

Background: Many girls in schools across the globe are at risk of becoming pregnant before they complete their secondary education. It is considered taboo in many communities for a school-aged girl to become pregnant while still a learner. Pregnant learners are often subjected to challenges such as discrimination by other learners and teachers, lack of academic support, and access to medical help while in school. Coupled with pregnancy-related adversities, pregnant learners require continuous support because they are at risk of dropping out of school.

Methodology: An exploratory, descriptive, qualitative study was conducted using in-depth interviews with learners and community nurses and focus group interviews for parents. The population was sampled purposively, and the sample size was 52 participants, determined by data saturation. 17 interviews were conducted for learners, 4 focus group interviews with 25 participants were conducted for parents, and 10 in-depth interviews were conducted for community nurses. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results: Four themes were identified: essential parents’ support, support from local community clinics, nurses’ school visits, and lack of support from other stakeholders. Parents were identified as the inevitable main source of support for pregnant learners. Moreover, nurses in community clinics were not engaging learners in schools; however, youth-friendly services were available at the community clinics. Parents, nurses, teachers, social workers, and the Departments of Health and Education were identified as major stakeholders.

Conclusion: The effectiveness of the learner pregnancy policy has gaps, which might be attributed to the difficulty in involving all essential stakeholders. Stakeholders should all play an important role in supporting pregnant learners. Despite the need for a collaborative effort, community nurses should play a prominent role in school-based sexual and reproductive education, support, and other learner pregnancy prevention activities in clinics and schools.

Recommendations: Parents must identify and guide sexually active learners and direct them to the clinic for sexual and reproductive health services like contraception and family planning. It is expected of community nurses to support pregnant learners facing pregnancy-related difficulties and offer pertinent coping mechanisms.