Abstract
ObjectiveParents have a key role regarding young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health services, thus their perceptions go a long way towards promoting or discouraging young people from using such services. Research has revealed that immigrant young people in Sweden access these essential services to a lesser extent than their native peers, and that they perceive their parents as unsupportive of such visits. This pilot study’s objective was to explore immigrant parents’ perceptions and experiences of the sexual and reproductive health services provided by Swedish youth clinics.ResultsTwo categories were developed from the data analysis: (i) Youth clinics are well-known (to some) and appreciated (to a certain extent), and (ii) Parents feel left out from youth clinics and that the clinics have taken over parental responsibility. This study presents an ambivalent scenario connected to immigrant parents’ experiences and perceptions of having neither a space nor a voice within the existing youth clinic model. Parents expressed the desire for the youth clinics to recognise their cultural backgrounds, norms, and beliefs while providing sexual and reproductive health services to their children.
Highlights
When it comes to young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health services, parents play an important role
The parents in this study were very much aware of the existence of YCs, which they described as “easy to find”, or as Lucy put it: The youth clinics are available just a call away and that’s necessary because the young people need to have somewhere where they feel safe to be able to talk about their sexuality. (Lucy)
Parents knew that YCs existed and offered services related to sexuality, they had very specific information about the diverse services that young people could get from YCs, in terms of both sexual and reproductive health and other issues, as Joab explained: They [the youth clinic staff ] explain if [young people] have a sexual problem, if they need condoms, sexual education, and if they have, for example, problems with alcohol addiction. (Joab)
Summary
Youth clinics are well‐known (to some) and appreciated (to a certain extent) This category describes parents’ ambivalent perceptions of YCs and the sexual and reproductive services they provide. The parents in this study were very much aware of the existence of YCs, which they described as “easy to find”, or as Lucy put it: The youth clinics are available just a call away and that’s necessary because the young people need to have somewhere where they feel safe to be able to talk about their sexuality. Beyond being “left out” from the individual consultation, parents spoke about feeling left out from the overall YC’s “one-size-fits-all model” They considered that this model overlooked their values, traditions, and religious approaches, as Lucy emphasised: Ahaa, one model fits all isn’t good, there are societies, we have one million immigrants from societies where sexual debut is later, where sexuality is not as openly discussed as it is here [in Sweden] and it’s problematic when you have a one model fits all. I was brought up in a context where I discussed my sexuality not with my mother but with my auntie and grandmother [...] and so when my daughter reached puberty, most of the time I left it to the nurse because I viewed the nurse as taking that auntie role for her. (Lucy)
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