From Parental Concern to Strategic Clarity: A Qualitative Needs Assessment for Family-based and Culturally Responsive Sexuality Education in Nigeria

In Nigeria, where deeply rooted cultural norms intersect with socioeconomic challenges, parents encounter significant obstacles in providing effective sexuality education. Stigma, cultural misconceptions, and external influences hinder open family dialogues. This phenomenological study explores the lived experiences, perceived needs, and strategies of Nigerian parents in delivering family-based sexuality education, aiming to inform context-sensitive interventions. Through semi-structured interviews with 24 parents, phenomenological analysis revealed three core themes. The first theme, parental understanding and expectations, captured how parents conceptualize sexuality education. Their conceptualization encompassed several essential topics, including health and puberty education, sexual abuse prevention, gender role orientation, responding to children's curiosities, media literacy, and sex-related values and ethics. The second theme, contextual challenges, detailed perceived barriers to implementation, including cultural norms, economic constraints, regional insecurity, multi-ethnicity, and family planning issues. The third theme, identified educational needs, highlighted necessary parental competencies, such as adopting a supportive parenting approach, developing modeling skills, implementing behavioral management, and identifying relevant resources. The findings underscore parents' dual roles as cultural navigators and advocates for systemic support. Consequently, this study advocates for multifaceted interventions that foster community partnerships, enhance parenting competencies, and provide culturally resonant educational resources to effectively support families.