Aspects of Mother’s Practices in Adolescent Sexual Education: A Phenomenological Study

The purpose of the current investigation was to ascertain the actual experiences of mothers who had applied sex education for their teenage sons and daughter. The research method was fundamental in terms of objective, whereas it was phenomenological in terms of strategy. In 2021, the research community at the Payame Noor University branch in Khouzestan comprised all females who had adolescent children. The researcher initiated the sampling procedure by selecting these mothers until all available information was exhausted. A total of 18 mothers participated in semi-structured interviews. The Colaizzi method was applied to the data of this study, which produced one main theme and four subthemes. The findings showed that the mothers tried to prevent or control the harms of puberty through various strategies, including limiting the adolescent’s sexual stimulation and curiosity, managing social communication, enhancing the parent-adolescent relationship, engaging in conversations with the adolescent to educate them about the risks associated with puberty, and managing social communication. These approaches predominated over others and were centered around adolescent-centered care and abstinence. Therefore, it would appear that professionals could benefit from an understanding of how parents handle the sexual concerns of their adolescents in order to develop more effective methods of educating them on the subject.