title: Exploring women's perceptions about their role in supporting partners' and sons' reproductive health care.
abstract: Women serve as important health information sources for young men. No previous study has explored women's perceptions about this role related to young men's sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care. Twenty African American women recruited from two clinics participated in three focus groups to explore perceptions to engage young men in SRH care. Themes were identified that may facilitate and/or hinder women to engage young men in SRH care: 1) communication/actions to provide support; 2) challenges in providing support; 3) traditional gender role perceptions and other access barriers; and 4) motivation, influence and control. Participants were interested and willing to support young men's SRH including sharing information about clinics (95%), making appointments (90%), going to visits together (90%), and having joint appointments (67%). Findings provide a foundation for programs interested to engage women as health promotion agents to improve young men's SRH care access. Future efforts should explore the generalizability of study findings.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics and Population, Family & Reproductive Health, The Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine & Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. amarcell@jhsph.edu
authors.forename: Arik V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Marcell
authors.forename: Terry Lee
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Plowden
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Watson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003142:Communication; D019058:Community Networks; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D034121:Reproductive Health Services; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult