27. ‘It Is This Which Is Normal’ A Qualitative Study On Women’s Experiences With Child Marriage And Health In Conakry, Guinea

Abstract

Child marriage, a union before age 18, has been associated with poor health behaviors and outcomes in quantitative literature, yet limited research qualitatively explores women’s health experiences in child marriage. The purpose of this study was to investigate how women married as children in Conakry, Guinea, where more than 50% of women marry before age 18, perceive their health as related to their child marriages. This qualitative study used grounded theory. A purposive sample of girls and women who married before age 18 participated in in-depth interviews (N=19). Interviews were conducted in French or a local language and ranged from 45 to 90 minutes. Open coding was used to categorize data and identify key themes. Informed consent was received from participants and ethical board approval was provided by the Harvard Longwood Institutional Review Board and Guinea’s National Council for Health Research. Two overarching themes and nine sub-themes emerged. Participants described their perceptions of the negative health outcomes they experienced as related to their child marriages. Interviews revealed women perceived their mental health, sexual and reproductive health, and physical health were negatively impacted by their marriages. Participants also described their perceptions of health benefits they experienced as related to their child marriages. Benefits identified included good health, increased access to health care, and childbearing practices. Understanding that women married before age 18 perceive both disadvantages and benefits to their health contributes to a narrative currently missing from literature. Research, practice, and policy addressing child marriage and women’s health needs to intentionally incorporate the perspective of women impacted.