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'One-size doesn't fit all' : Understanding healthcare practitioners' perceptions, attitudes and behaviours towards sexual and reproductive health and rights in low resource settings: An exploratory qualitative study

Tumwine, Gilbert LU ; Palmieri, Jack LU orcid ; Larsson, Markus LU ; Gummesson, Christina LU ; Okong, Pius ; Östergren, Per Olof LU and Agardh, Anette LU orcid (2020) In PLoS ONE 15(6). p.0234658-0234658
Abstract

Although progress has been made to improve access to sexual and reproductive health services globally in the past two decades, in many low-income countries, improvements have been slow. Discrimination against vulnerable groups and failure to address health inequities openly and comprehensively play a role in this stagnation. Healthcare practitioners are important actors who, often alone, decide who accesses services and how. This study explores how health care practitioners perceive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and how background factors influence them during service delivery. Participants were a purposefully selected sample of health practitioners from five low income countries attending a training in at Lund... (More)

Although progress has been made to improve access to sexual and reproductive health services globally in the past two decades, in many low-income countries, improvements have been slow. Discrimination against vulnerable groups and failure to address health inequities openly and comprehensively play a role in this stagnation. Healthcare practitioners are important actors who, often alone, decide who accesses services and how. This study explores how health care practitioners perceive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and how background factors influence them during service delivery. Participants were a purposefully selected sample of health practitioners from five low income countries attending a training in at Lund University, Sweden. Semi-structured interviews and qualitative content analysis were used. Three themes emerged. The first theme, "one-size doesn't fit all' in SRHR" reflects health practitioners' perception of SRHR. Although they perceived rights as fundamental to sexual and reproductive health, exercising of these rights was perceived to be context-specific. The second theme, "aligning a pathway to service delivery", illustrates a reflective balancing act between their personal values and societal norms in service delivery, while the third theme, "health practitioners acting as gatekeepers", describes how this balancing act oscillates between enabling and blocking behaviours. The findings suggest that, even though health care practitioners perceive SRHR as fundamental rights, their preparedness to ensure that these rights were upheld in service delivery is influenced by personal values and society norms. This could lead to actions that enable or block service delivery.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
PLoS ONE
volume
15
issue
6
pages
0234658 - 0234658
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:32584840
  • scopus:85087097944
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0234658
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3e23e339-8a2e-4595-a90b-371db74ea39c
date added to LUP
2020-07-05 09:58:36
date last changed
2024-05-01 13:14:27
@article{3e23e339-8a2e-4595-a90b-371db74ea39c,
  abstract     = {{<p>Although progress has been made to improve access to sexual and reproductive health services globally in the past two decades, in many low-income countries, improvements have been slow. Discrimination against vulnerable groups and failure to address health inequities openly and comprehensively play a role in this stagnation. Healthcare practitioners are important actors who, often alone, decide who accesses services and how. This study explores how health care practitioners perceive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and how background factors influence them during service delivery. Participants were a purposefully selected sample of health practitioners from five low income countries attending a training in at Lund University, Sweden. Semi-structured interviews and qualitative content analysis were used. Three themes emerged. The first theme, "one-size doesn't fit all' in SRHR" reflects health practitioners' perception of SRHR. Although they perceived rights as fundamental to sexual and reproductive health, exercising of these rights was perceived to be context-specific. The second theme, "aligning a pathway to service delivery", illustrates a reflective balancing act between their personal values and societal norms in service delivery, while the third theme, "health practitioners acting as gatekeepers", describes how this balancing act oscillates between enabling and blocking behaviours. The findings suggest that, even though health care practitioners perceive SRHR as fundamental rights, their preparedness to ensure that these rights were upheld in service delivery is influenced by personal values and society norms. This could lead to actions that enable or block service delivery.</p>}},
  author       = {{Tumwine, Gilbert and Palmieri, Jack and Larsson, Markus and Gummesson, Christina and Okong, Pius and Östergren, Per Olof and Agardh, Anette}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{0234658--0234658}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{'One-size doesn't fit all' : Understanding healthcare practitioners' perceptions, attitudes and behaviours towards sexual and reproductive health and rights in low resource settings: An exploratory qualitative study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234658}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0234658}},
  volume       = {{15}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}