Mother-daughter sexual communication: How WHNPs can help!

Abstract

<p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The goal of this study was to contribute to the body of knowledge on mother-daughter sexual communication and to develop a deeper understanding of the attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge that mothers perceive as compromising or promoting mother-daughter sexual communication.</p> <p><strong>Methodology:</strong> A qualitative study which investigated mother-daughter sexual communication from the mother&rsquo;s perceptions. Ten mothers of adolescents&rsquo; females were recruited via convenience sample and participated in one-on-one interviews. Interviews were semi-structured and focus on the research questions. The transcripts were analyzed for themes and categories using steps of Data Analysis and Interpretation outlined by Hesse-Biber and Levy. These steps included the data preparation phase, data exploration phase, data reduction phase, and interpretation phase.</p> <p><strong>Results: </strong>Mother&rsquo;s perceived their role as being a primary resource of sexual health information and educator. The data revealed the mothers felt confident in their content knowledge and attitude to answer any questions asked by their daughter. Perceived barriers identified by the mothers included lack of initiation of sexual communication by the adolescent and fear of the mother causing discomfort and embarrassment to their daughter. Mothers perceived signs of their daughter&rsquo;s puberty and the scheduled in school health talks as significant facilitators to mother-daughter sexual communication. Advanced practice nurses (APNs) who provide healthcare for female adolescents and women are at the front line when it comes to addressing mothers&rsquo; concerns about their daughters&rsquo; sexual health. Promoting mother-daughter sexual communication (MDSC) can improve these adolescents&rsquo; sexual health and decrease the likelihood of their engaging in risky sexual behaviors. Identifying barriers to MDSC can allow APNs to create and implement interventions that can substitute facilitators for barriers to effective communication. Identifying facilitators can help APNs build upon strategies already working, create resources to strengthen these connections, and show mothers how to capitalize on opportunities to initiate MDSC. APN-developed interventions could potentially be school or community based or used by individual clinicians in primary care. A partnership among parents, schools, and communities and an interdisciplinary approach among pediatric, primary care, women&rsquo;s health, and mental health providers could create sustainable interventions to help foster MDSC and produce the best outcomes for adolescents&rsquo; sexual health.</p>