African-American Fathers' Perspectives on Facilitators and Barriers to Father-Son Sexual Health Communication.
Schenita D Randolph, Tanya Coakley, Jeffrey Shears and 1 others
PMID 28220553WHAT IT FOUND
Fathers felt responsible for talking with sons about sex but struggled to start.
They judged readiness by sons’ interest in girls, not age, and reported lacking strategies for developmentally appropriate conversations.
Key findings
01Fathers accepted responsibility for sons’ sexual health education but reported difficulty starting conversations and lacking skills and strategies.
02Fathers said age alone was not a good indicator of readiness and looked for sons’ interest in girls or nonverbal cues.
03Barriers included fathers’ lack of experience talking with their own fathers and no reported use of resources about sons’ developmental needs.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Findings come from a purposive sample of African-American fathers in North Carolina, predominantly married, living with their sons, and educated, so they may not apply to other fathers. Twenty of 49 eligible fathers did not attend. The sons’ exact ages were not matched to fathers’ responses, so the study cannot show how communication changed with son age. It reports perceptions and themes, not measured sexual health outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that these conversations reduce STIs or HIV. The study reports fathers’ perceptions and barriers; it did not measure sons’ sexual health outcomes.