International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue X, October 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
Namakau Kakanda–Sinkala
University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
Abstract: Teenage pregnancy amongst primary school girls in Zambia is considered to be a deviation from social norms of sex outside marriage. Moreover, school re-entry of teenage mothers is also against social norms. Therefore, a distress protocol for potential participants and the researcher is necessary to deal with psychological and emotional responses which might culminate from the sharing of experiences by the participants. The protocol also considers similar distress on the part of the researcher resulting from locating the participants and the information disclosed by participants. The research is qualitative in nature. This research is considered to be medium risk.
Keywords: Teenage pregnancy, risk, distress, participants, researcher
I. INTRODUCTION
A distress protocol is recommended for sensitive topics because of the likelihood of participants and the researcher being left vulnerable to emotional distress due to information shared by the former to the latter. Bates (2021:2) refers to sensitive topics as those that focus on ‘unwanted experiences’ (Mallon & Elliot , 2019). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that about half of pregnancies that occur during adolescence are unintended (WHO , 2020) . They can thus be said to be unwanted. Draucker, Martsolf, and Poole (2009: 343) explain that sensitive topics involve ‘traumatic, aversive events which could cause anxiety, depression, embarrassment or acute stress as the experiences are recalled, reexamined and revealed’. Bates (2021:2) explains that sensitive topics focus on ‘private material, ask about unwanted experiences or revisit trauma’. Private material refers to personal encounters that are perceived to be an individual’s secrets. Unwanted experiences are unpleasant encounters that occur to people which are against their personal value systems. Revisiting trauma implies to recollection of unpleasant experiences.