Beyond the abstinence Mantra: Attitudes of parents towards comprehensive sexuality education in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The sexuality education debate has predominantly increased to revolve around the strict abstinence mantra, reflecting deeply ingrained cultural, religious, and societal attitudes towards sex and reproductive health, and Zimbabwe is not an exception among African countries. Nevertheless, there is a growing recognition of the limitations of this approach and the need for more comprehensive sexuality education to address the complex needs of young people in the country. This study explored the attitudes of parents and guardians toward comprehensive sexuality education in Zimbabwe, shedding light on their beliefs, perceptions, and concerns regarding the provision of sexual health information to their children. A qualitative approach was used with the descriptive survey research design. Twenty-four parents and guardians (eleven males and thirteen females) were purposively selected from the Chikomba district of Mashonaland East province, Zimbabwe. In-depth interviews and document analysis served as data collection tools. It emerged from the study that most parents and guardians have negative attitudes toward comprehensive sexuality education, which stemmed from their cultural, moral, and religious beliefs toward CSE. The results indicated that parents and guardians felt the fully fledged introduction of CSE would likely lead to moral degradation, among other things. Despite these challenges, few participants expressed positive attitudes towards the equipping of young people with the CSE knowledge and skills so that they make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health. The current study recommended a collaborative approach to deal with the dynamics of CSE with input from policymakers, educators, parents, health personnel, social scientists, and learners, as opined by some participants.