Peer Support Intervention to Mitigate Social Isolation and Stigma of Adolescent Motherhood in Zimbabwe

Summary

A community-based peer support intervention for adolescent mothers aged 14-18 years in Harare, Zimbabwe was developed and tested in partnership with adolescent mothers, community health workers, and key community stakeholders. The intervention leveraged peer support, technology via WhatsApp Messenger, community health workers, peer educators and involvement of key community stakeholders to reduce prevalence of loneliness, depressive symptoms and common mental disorders, improve perceived social support, and develop coping, parenting, and communication skills to mitigate potential stressors and stigma of adolescent motherhood.

Conditions

• Mental Health Disorder
• Social Isolation
• Stigma, Social

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Young Women of Today

Adolescent mothers engaged in the development and implementation of the intervention which also involved key community stakeholders to address stigma related to mental illness and adolescent motherhood. Community health workers and peer educators in the intervention arm were recruited and trained on co-facilitating peer support groups. The intervention arm (n=104 adolescent mothers) participated in the peer support groups and completed sociodemographic, base-, mid-, and end-line surveys. The control arm (n=79 adolescent mothers) completed sociodemographic, base-, mid- and end-line surveys. Peer support groups (12 groups with 6-12 participants in each group) met in-person twice a month and completed 12 peer-group sessions from May-August 2019 addressing participant identified topics such as depression. WhatsApp Messenger was used for training and implementation support. Key community stakeholders met to discuss project progress and recommendations to improve adolescent mothers' health.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• University of South Carolina

  collaborator OTHER

• Organization for Public Health Interventions and Development

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Zimbabwe

  collaborator OTHER

• SpeakUp! Pennsylvania

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• West Chester University of Pennsylvania

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Chiwoneso Tinago, PhD · West Chester University of Pennsylvania

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

14 Years

Max Age

18 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-10-01

Primary Completion

2019-09-30

Completion

2019-09-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations