Problem or Blessing: Language and Communications used to address
Adolescent Pregnancy in rural Costa Rica (Problema o
bendición: lenguaje y comunicación sobre el embarazo
adolescente en la Costa Rica rural) 公开
Chaiklin, Charlotte Hart (2015)
Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/70795787c?locale=zh Published
Abstract
The institutional globalized discourse used by public
health organizations has defined adolescent pregnancy as a serious
health problem. This view of adolescent pregnancy is reflected in
an initiative by Salud Mesoamérica 2015 (SM2015) to prevent
such phenomenon in rural Costa Rica. This study focuses on the
discourses used to discuss adolescent pregnancy by both SM2015 and
its target population, the adolescent mothers of rural Costa Rica.
Through the analysis of the texts used by SM2015 and the responses
of 13 surveyed adolescent mothers, two main discourses were
identified, the modern institutional and the popular traditional.
These two systems of discourse were shown to propose two different
narratives of adolescent pregnancy. While the institutional
discourse illustrated adolescent pregnancy as a problem, the
traditional discourse, as represented in a small sample of SM2015's
target population in one rural area of Costa Rica, appeared to
validate adolescent pregnancy, at least after age 15, as a means of
achieving higher social status due to the cultural importance of
motherhood. It was found that SM2015 does not appear to acknowledge
this traditional discourse and the view of adolescent pregnancy it
proposes. Consideration of this popular discourse does not appear
to figure in SM2015's communication strategies. This omission
causes ineffective communication between SM2015 and its target
population, the adolescents of rural Costa Rica, and ultimately,
impedes the efforts of SM2015 to change the sexual behavior of
Costa Rican adolescents.
Table of Contents
Introducción p. 1
Capítulo uno: Las encuestas y el discurso local p. 6
Capítulo dos: Salud Mesoamérica 2015 p. 32
Capítulo tres: Reflexiones y la tensión entre los
discursos p. 55
Conclusiones p. 63
Bibliografía p. 66
Referencias no publicadas p. 72
El apéndice p. 74
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