Mentorship Communication Role of Teachers and Prevention of Teenage Pregnancies in Public Secondary Schools in Narok County, Kenya

Abstract

Background: Sexuality plays a very significant role in the lives of both boys and girls. Teacher communication is therefore important in preventing teenage pregnancies among students in secondary schools. Objective: Mentorship communication role of teachers and prevention of teenage pregnancies in public secondary schools in Narok County, Kenya. Method: A mixed research design was used in the study. It combined qualitative and quantitative study approaches. The population of the study included all the 8994 female students of Narok County from 52 secondary schools in the Narok County in the year 2019. The respondents were aged between 13-19 years attending both boarding and day public secondary schools in Narok County in both. Stratified technique of sampling was used to sample the population into strata. The study selected proportionally the subjects from different strata. Total study sample size was 536; 500 respondents for the questionnaire, 12 for the interview, and 24 for the focus group discussions. A questionnaire, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data. Quantitative data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences computer software package (SPSS statistics version 22). Descriptive statistics drawn include mean, and standard deviation which were presented in tables, frequencies and percentages. Inferential statistics drawn include multiple regression and correlation analysis. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 1 1 , No. 3, 2021, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2021 HRMARS 382 Results: Results reveal that there is a significant positive relationship between mentorship communication role and prevention of teenage pregnancies (r = 0.630). This implies that there is a very strong association between mentorship communication role and prevention of teenage pregnancies which is significant Conclusion The study concluded that mentorship programs were effective in controlling pregnancy cases among school-going girls in the area where the study was done. This implies that if the mentorship programs are well implemented, the pregnancy cases among girls will reduce drastically. This will improve lives of women and society in general. The study concluded that individual teachers make decisions on their own regarding what and when to teach sexuality education. This discretion implies holding back information from the learners, teaching abstinence as the only way of preventing pregnancy or cancelling sexuality education sessions altogether.