5.1. Limitations
The study was analysed used qualitative methods. One of the strengths of a qualitative research is working with a small sample, as it provides rich and detailed data (Durrheim, 2006), the limitation of this method is that it limits the generalization of the findings. Due to the research only being conducted with eight participants’ (all black females who returned to school after having a baby), the findings cannot be taken as a general representation of all black teenage mothers in South Africa.
Another limitation of qualitative research is the subjectivity of the researcher. Although critically reading of the transcripts, and the findings served to limit the influence of subjective views and personal discourse in the analysis stage of the research. The analysis and organization of the results cannot be regarded as objectively definitive. Therefore the discussion is acknowledged as offering only one of many possible sets of interpretations.
Furthermore, it is acknowledged that the girls may not have provided completely honest and accurate accounts pertaining to sensitive and personal issues like sex and reaction’s from teachers. Their responses may also have been influenced by the researcher’s age as participants’ may have provided responses that they thought the researcher would have liked to hear. The researcher (being older) may have elicited more mature responses and also guarded responses as she may have initially been viewed as a ‘judging’ adult like the other adults they encounter. However, due to being able to elicit responses and information on these topics, it can be argued that the researcher was able to establish sufficient rapport to allow the participants’ to feel comfortable to discuss these issues.
Even though the researcher drew on a semi-structured interviews as a guide during the interview process, spontaneous probing and the use of different wording on the part of the researcher may have negatively affected the consistency of the findings across interviews and elicited information in a way that confirmed her preconceived assumptions on the topic. The use of open-ended questions may also have prompted participants’ into providing ambiguous or vague answers. In addition to this, the participants’ may not have always understood the wording of the questions asked in the same way.
95 The interview process was lengthy, as the researcher was cognizant of the vulnerable sample and time on establishing rapport. The lengthy nature of the interview may have negatively influenced participants’ responses, especially towards the end of the interview. Similarly audio-recording may have influenced their responses. Even though participants’ were reminded of the confidentiality clause some participants’ were cautious around disclosing information surrounding teachers’ responses.
5.2. Recommendations and Implications for future research
According to Fairclough (1989), discourses are not reproduced in a vacuum and divorced from society but rather they are influenced and shaped by their social context and by the speakers who invoke them. Therefore more research is required at the level of media and government policy in terms of raising an awareness of these discourses that stigmatize these young mothers. Furthermore, intervention is required at the level of policy making within the Department of Education. Although this policy has mobilized positive change, the research highlighted the presence of dominant discourses in this policy. Therefore change at this level (policy making) is essential as it will infiltrate into the levels below such as the school’s management committee (who implements the policy), the teachers, the learners and the teenage mothers. This policy has influencing power across a broad spectrum of individuals and also huge implications for the future of teenage mothers. Therefore the researcher emphasizes intervention at this level.
Throughout the interview, the participants’ highlighted the challenges that they experienced in mainstream society, due to the dominant construction of teenage pregnancy as a social problem. The school appeared to play a role in perpetuating the negative stigma associated with teenage pregnancy, and therefore intervention at this level would serve as a protective factor for these young mothers (Khalil, 2008). At school, a recommended intervention at the level of educators could be in the form of a creative workshop that aims at critical thinking and conscientisation of teenage pregnancy from multiple perspectives. This workshop could include:
- Role plays that give the educators an opportunity to actively role-play scenarios that pregnant girls may experiences (thus creating a sense of empathy).
96 - Providing fact based evidence such as statistics of the teenage pregnancy in South Africa,
evidence of teenage pregnancy not being linked social grants etc.
- Conscientisation- provide educators with an opportunity to critically engage in dominant discourses with the facilitator challenging these perceptions. Reflection of their role in perpetuating the marginalization of teenage mothers
Furthermore, in light of the evidence of this research that linked stigma and lack of support to feeling of depression, isolation and suicide ideation and given the potential difficulties.
Support for mothers in the form of social and professional support is likely to be particularly important in the ameliorating negative outcomes and negotiating barriers to maternal contact.
Whilst results of this study highlight the importance of support, unfortunately this is not the case for all teenage mothers who may not receive familial support. The researcher recommends the formation of support groups for these young mothers, especially for those who may not have familial support. This support group is not to be a place to discriminate, and further pathologize them but rather a space for them to discuss their challenges and achievements with other teenage mothers alike. This is also in light of the findings of the participants’ experience of the interview as cathartic, it can be argued that it is important to develop a space in which teenage mothers’ can express themselves. It may also assist in providing a voice for the voice-less and thus mobilizing and empowering young mothers.
Whilst this study achieved its aim of giving voice to the voice-less, it only included girls who continued their education. Untangling the reasons why girls do not return to school is critical to appropriate policy development which in turn could enhance the postpartum social and economic opportunities. The stories of young mothers who did not continue with their education is equally important to hear and thus an area for further research. Furthermore, in light of unexpected results of this study that indicated the presence of paternal involvement, more research is required with teenage fathers. It seems that the focus on teenage mothers perpetuates the discourse of the absent teenage father which is not necessarily the truth, as indicated in this study.
97