Mentorship Communication Role of Teachers and Prevention of Teenage Pregnancies in Public Secondary Schools in Narok County, Kenya

Background: Sexuality plays a very significant role in the lives of both boys and girls. Teacher communication is therefore important in preventing teenage pregnancies among students in secondary schools. Objective: Mentorship communication role of teachers and prevention of teenage pregnancies in public secondary schools in Narok County, Kenya. Method: A mixed research design was used in the study. It combined qualitative and quantitative study approaches. The population of the study included all the 8994 female students of Narok County from 52 secondary schools in the Narok County in the year 2019. The respondents were aged between 13-19 years attending both boarding and day public secondary schools in Narok County in both. Stratified technique of sampling was used to sample the population into strata. The study selected proportionally the subjects from different strata. Total study sample size was 536; 500 respondents for the questionnaire, 12 for the interview, and 24 for the focus group discussions. A questionnaire, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data. Quantitative data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences computer software package (SPSS statistics version 22). Descriptive statistics drawn include mean, and standard deviation which were presented in tables, frequencies and percentages. Inferential statistics drawn include multiple regression and correlation analysis. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 1 1 , No. 3, 2021, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2021 HRMARS 382 Results: Results reveal that there is a significant positive relationship between mentorship communication role and prevention of teenage pregnancies (r = 0.630). This implies that there is a very strong association between mentorship communication role and prevention of teenage pregnancies which is significant Conclusion The study concluded that mentorship programs were effective in controlling pregnancy cases among school-going girls in the area where the study was done. This implies that if the mentorship programs are well implemented, the pregnancy cases among girls will reduce drastically. This will improve lives of women and society in general. The study concluded that individual teachers make decisions on their own regarding what and when to teach sexuality education. This discretion implies holding back information from the learners, teaching abstinence as the only way of preventing pregnancy or cancelling sexuality education sessions altogether.


Introduction
Teenage sexual behavior is a huge concern for the society and nations at large. The period of adolescence is that of rapid physical and cognitive development which makes them begin sexual exploration and experimentation of sexual fantasies and realities (Santrock, 2013). Pre-marital sex is a risk factor to the teenagers since it exposes them to sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies which further compound the problem in terms of increased rates of abortion, increased dependency, and disempowerment of girls (Dube, 2013). Teachers are viewed by students as trusted and respected sources of information, and are commonly approached by students with health-related and/or sensitive issues (Ollis & Meldrum, 2014). Teacher involvement in sensitive issues leads to more effective education than when children are informed on these issues by parents alone (Cohen, & Randall, 2012). For instance, it is known that school-based sexuality programs are valued by parents and make the discussion of sexual issues at home an easier process. Parent-child discussions of sensitive issues are also stimulated by school-based child protection programs (Hawkins & Briggs, 2015).
Many teachers find experiential teaching methods useful for discussing emotional and controversial topics such as sexual identity or family violence. These methods, many of which include self-disclosure in the classroom, can break down the barriers between students and the social world (Ollis & Meldrum, 2014). Dube, 2013 explored the classroom management of student self-disclosure of sensitive topics drawing on the teacher experiences on teaching sociology at a large, in which a number of students use their knowledge on sexuality as springboards into their early sex debut. Students' concerns with peer disapproval and the processes through which they disclosed their involvement in the sex has raised several pedagogical and ethical issues that have not yet been addressed in the self-disclosure literature. Students in secondary schools need to be exposed to information even at unspecified times regarding issues like the human body, its function in reproduction, pleasures and pain at various stages of human development, friendship formations, relationships among others. Blake, Kim, Ward, and Chandra, (2014) states that the society thus expects the school to play a clear role to pass on the true and factual knowledge to the youth. Studies have shown that the quality of teacher -student relationship, parenting style and communication about sex are strong determinants of adolescent sexual behavior. Teachers are in a unique position to help socialize adolescents by providing accurate information about sex and fostering responsible sexual decision-making skills (Hoppe, & Gillmore, 2014). This study focuses upon teens' communication with teachers and their parent's involvement in their lives as they relate to teens sexual behaviors and attitudes. With insight into these relationships, teens' needs can be better met. This study seeks to assess the role of Teacher-student communication in preventing teenage pregnancies. Problems caused by negative, irresponsible, or destructive teen sexual behaviors and attitudes can be diminished through improved understanding of these relationships.

Statement of the Problem
Communication between teacher's counsellor and students is crucial in addressing teenage pregnancies (Kirby, 2007). According to Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (2014), teenage pregnancies and especially amongst secondary school learners have been rising at an alarming rate in the world and Kenya in particular (MoE, 2016). The National teenage pregnancy prevalence rate is 18%. Over370,000 adolescent girls (10-19) presented with pregnancy in health facilities across 47 counties between July 2016-June 2017 (NCPD, 2017). School-based programmes have been put in place to help young people avoid the risks of unsafe sex. The role of the teacher has expanded not only to include the development of cognitive skills but also the child's social and moral wellbeing. Despite the perceived status of teachers by parents and students as competent and informed in matters related to sensitive issues, a large proportion of teacher's express discomfort in educating students in these areas. For example, many teachers indicate fairly low levels of knowledge and mastery in the area of sexual health education (Cohen, Byers, Sears, & Weaver, 2014), with the majority feeling insufficiently prepared to inform students in this area. This lack of preparation may influence the way in which teachers approach their students' education, including the topics covered (Cohen, et al., 2014) and teaching methods employed (Kirby, 2012).
Teachers also indicate feelings of inadequate preparation and support in identifying and managing student's issues of pregnancies, as well as limited knowledge and confidence in their ability to educate students in this area (Walter, Gouze, & Lim, 2016). This has created the problems of teenage pregnancies, abortions, sexually transmitted diseases and sexual exploitation of boys and girls. In fact, in this era of HIV and AIDS, trends indicate that the scourge is increasing most rapidly among young people in their most reproductive years (Melissa, 2012). This is because they are infected during their teenage years through unprotected sex. Dunton et al (2013) posits that adolescents were more likely to display references to sexual behavior if a peer displayed similar references. The other concern of the influence of communicating media to teenage pregnancy is sexting which involves sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages or pictures via a cell phone or over the internet via email or a social networking site. Studies have been done on communication and sexuality. Dowdell, Burgess and Flores (2014) posit that sexting as a communication method on adolescent initial sex experience and consequences such as teenage pregnancy. Kiragu et al (2016) did a study on cultural factors, communication and adolescent sexuality in high schools in Kenya.
The studies above have dwelt on the cultural, sexting and social media as factors contributing to sexuality. However, there is need to investigate Teacher-Student role in prevention of teenage pregnancies. This study seeks to use communication privacy theory and social penetration theory to examine the gap between sex knowledge and behaviour change among adolescents. Therefore, there is need to understand the mentorship, socialization, teaching, advisory role by the teachers and parental mediation in preventing teenage pregnancies. To achieve this, the study will examine the role of Teacher-student communication in preventing teenage pregnancies in Narok County, Kenya.

Objective of the Study
To determine the mentorship communication role of teachers in preventing teenage pregnancies in Narok Kenya

Theoretical Framework Communication Privacy Management Theory
The proponent of communication privacy management theory was Sandra Petronio in 1991. The theory offers an explanation of how individuals manage private information through the construction of metaphorical boundaries. According to the theory, individuals believe they own their private information and have a right to control whether the information is disclosed as well as to whom it is dis-closed (Petronio, 2004). Once information is shared with a friend, however, the original owner no longer has sole control over its dispersion. In an effort to maintain some degree of control over the information, friends develop privacy rules prior to an initial disclosure and coordinate boundaries with co-owners after an initial dis-closure (Petronio, 2002). Thus, communication privacy management theory does not restrict the communicative act of dis-closure to self-revelation but may include private disclosures, or multiple levels of disclosure, such as disclosure about a group or dyad (Petronio, 2000).
The theory is applicable to the current study illustrates this principle of ownership rights through different types of metaphorical privacy boundaries (Petronio, 2002). Information identified as private and protected resides within an individual privacy boundary. Once private information is disclosed to others, it transitions from an individual privacy boundary into a collectively-owned privacy boundary that is managed among authorized co-owners. In this case of teacher student communication personal information that a student refuses to share with the teacher remains in their individual privacy boundary. CPM establishes that individuals control their privacy and make decisions about what private information to reveal or conceal through the use of privacy rules (Petronio, 2002).
Privacy rules function for regulating management of both individual privacy boundaries and collective privacy boundaries (Petronio & Reierson, 2009). At the individual level, people are inclined to share or protect private information more or less as a product of cultural, gendered, motivational, contextual, and risk-benefit ratio criteria (Petronio, 2002). A teacher attempt to be a part of their student collective boundary might cause a form of turbulence for the student if the request is seen as a privacy invasion by the young adult. Thus, the teacher will devise ways to address the issues of privacy which will aim and delaying the student sex debut as well as controlling early teenage pregnancies.
The theory has its strengths and weaknesses. As far as the strength of the CPM, it can be seen in the great number of research articles that have been written based firmly Privacy Management theory. The theory has been employed in understanding family dynamics, the gender gap in communication, the disclosure of HIV or AIDS statuses, as well as child sexual abuse. Some researchers have questioned whether CPM theory truly is dialectical in nature. It has argued that CPM takes a dualistic approach, treating privacy and disclosure as independent of one another and able to coexist in tandem rather than in the dynamic interplay characteristic of dialectics. This accusation of dualistic thinking might result from the theory's use of the terms balance and equilibrium in the early versions of CPM theory. Petronio argues that CPM is not focused on balance in the psychological sense. Instead, CPM argues for coordination with others that does not advocate an optimum balance between disclosure and privacy.
As an alternative, the theory claims there are shifting forces with a range of privacy and disclosure that people handle by making judgments about the degrees of privacy and publicness they wish to experience in any given interaction. Thus, Petronio argues that it is legitimate to call CPM theory dialectical in nature. The theory is applicable to the objective on teacher advisory function where students are advised to disclose their privacy in matters sex for them to be helped on how they can approach the issues. Adolescents spend almost one third of their daily time in school as a part of the social life contributing to shape their personality. Therefore, schools are expected to contribute towards the moral and ethical, spiritual, mental and physical development of a child. A good curriculum may serve as a fundamental to preventing the children from offending in the future. It may motivate students, help them cultivate a positive attitude, be optimistic and grow with a positive approach to the life.

Teacher Mentorship Role
The nature of a mentoring relationship varies with the level and activities of both student and mentor. In general, however, each relationship must be based on a common goal: to advance the educational and personal growth of the student (Dube, 2013). Different students will require different amounts and kinds of attention, advice, information, and encouragement. Some students will feel comfortable approaching their mentors; others will be shy, intimidated, or reluctant to seek help. A good mentor is approachable and available. In longterm relationships, friendships form naturally; students can gradually become colleagues. At the same time, strive as a mentor to be aware of the distinction between friendship and favoritism (Kirby, 2013). Melissa, (2012) stated that students, for their part, need to understand the professional pressures and time constraints faced by their mentors and not view them as merely a means-or impediment-to their goal. For many faculty, mentoring is not their primary responsibility; in fact, time spent with students can be time taken from their own research. Students are obliged to recognize the multiple demands on a mentor's time. Helping youth create and maintain strong connections with adults Both research and everyday experience teach us that every young person needs at least one strong, authoritative, and dependable adult in his or her life (Patra, 2016). For most young people, this will be parents, but some parents have great difficulty communicating with their own children, not just about sex, but about many issues. School personnel, such as teachers, guidance counselors, coaches, school nurses, and other support staff, can play a significant role in helping to fill this gap, guiding young people and helping them to make responsible decisions about their futures (Santrock, 2013).
Aware that vulnerable students in particular benefit from a connection with an adult, many schools attempt to link each student to a school staff member, case manager, or volunteer. Some schools are organized around "family" groups in the homeroom, with the teacher taking the responsibility for checking in with each student every day to make sure everything is going well. For example, school/community partnerships that focus on mental health often bring outside counselors into the school for prevention and treatment (Trenholm et al., 2013). In a few schools, teachers or special outreach workers make home visits when parents need to be involved. Teacher mentors through their communication may demonstrate their influence indirectly by shaping student's goals for the future, providing evidence by their own life that success is possible, and thus providing an incentive for teens to avoid risky behaviors that may interfere with those goals (Makiwane, & Udjo, 2016). In the case of teen pregnancy, a mentor may serve as a model, or represent the type of individual that the teen would like to emulate; mentors can encourage higher education and occupational success, and provide emotional support to promote self-esteem, responsibility, and confidence in the teen's ability to succeed. This person may also stress the importance of avoiding obstacles to goal achievement, such as teen pregnancy. Teacher mentoring programs should be incorporated within multi-faceted approaches, addressing multiple risk behaviors among youth including drug use, school dropout, and delinquency, as well as teen pregnancy. Although some of these programs have been evaluated, unfortunately the evaluations are not sufficient to assess the impact of the mentoring component on adolescent sexual behavior.

Research Methodology Research Design
According to Creswell (2003) a research design provides a framework for the collection and analysis of data. A mixed research design was used in the study. It combined qualitative and quantitative study approaches. Creswell (2003) says mixed designs are advantageous as in the case for this study as they allowed the researcher to view research problems from multiple perspectives, contextualize information, develop a more complete understanding and triangulate results. It is therefore a more comprehensive research design. This study used a convergent parallel mixed methods design. It merged quantitative and qualitative data in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of the research problem. The study collected both forms of data at roughly the same time and integrated the information in the interpretation of the overall results (Creswell, 2003) in order to answer the research objectives.

Population
A population is a set of people, service, elements, and events, group of things or households being investigated (Newman, 2000). Kathuri & Pals (1973) defined target population as the large population from which a researcher selects a representative sample for observation and analysis. The population of the study included all the female students aged between 13-19 years who attend public secondary school in Narok County's. According to Ministry of Education (2018), Narok County has 8994 girl's students in 52 public secondary schools from form one to three. Therefore, the population size of the study was 8994 female girls students. These students are both boarders and day scholars in form one to three. The researcher chose this age range (13-19 years) because they are the most affected teenagers who are in secondary school (MoE, 2018).

Sample and Sampling Technique
A sampling frame is a list or database from which a sample is drawn from (Mugenda & Mugenda, 2003). The sampling frame for the study was envisioned as consisting of five clusters, as indicated in table below. Consequently, data was collected from the four clusters: girls' boarding, mixed boarding, mixed day and mixed day and boarding. Therefore, the list of names was obtained from their respective class registers for form one to three from which the respondents were sampled randomly. Hence the quantitative sampling was representative of the public secondary school girl's students of the county. On the other hand, because qualitative research does not attempt to make representative statements about populations, qualitative samples are typically drawn purposively. For this study, participants were purposively selected in the sampled schools from form one to form three. In order to provide an accurate and reliable description of the characteristics of a given population, it is usually not necessary to study the entire population. In most cases, studying a sample is sufficient enough. According to Orodho and Kombo (2002) sampling is the procedure a researcher uses to gather people, places or things to study. Statements about the samples should also be true of the population. However, the larger the size, the smaller the sampling error may be. Therefore, the total sample size for this study were 536 respondents of which 500 participated in the survey, 12 participated in-depth interviews, and 24 took part in the focus group discussions.

Data Collection Tools and Procedures
The study collected primary data from the respondents. The data collection instruments that were used in this study to collect primary data included a questionnaire, key informant interviews, and focus group discussion. The data collection procedure started once the researcher was given a letter of approval by the university to go to the field. Using the letter of approval, a permit to conduct the study was acquired from NACOSTI. Afterwards, the Education Officer in charge of Narok County was informed of the study and hence all the relevant stakeholders who included the principals, teachers and student of the girls' schools were informed as well. The researcher used the services of three research assistants only during the administering of the research instruments.
The research assistants were trained on how to administer the questionnaire. The drop and pick method was used where the research assistants delivered the questionnaire to the respondents and pick them when completed. In addition, the researcher conducted interview through direct interaction with individuals on a one to one basis to get an elaborate information on teacher student communication on prevention of teenage pregnancies. Further the researcher conducted focus group discussion through direct interaction with respondents in a group setting. The researcher posed questions at different intervals and give the respondents time to give their opinion on the subject matter. The researcher was recording information through tape recorder as writing on the paper may consume more time and may not record all the information stated by the respondents.

Data Analysis
In order to bring order, structure and interpretation to the collected data, the researcher systematically organized the data by coding it into categories and constructing matrixes. After classifying the data, the researcher compared and contrasted it to the information retrieved from the literature review. To conduct the quantitative data analysis, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences computer software package (SPSS statistics version 22) was used. The Quantitative data generated was subjected to the descriptive statistics feature in SPSS to generate mean, and standard deviation which was presented using tables, frequencies and percentages while Qualitative data consist of words and observations, not numbers.
Inferential statistics were used to present quantitative data. Correlation analysis was also used to scale and analyze how independent variables, like teacher advisory role, teacher mentorship role, teaching role, socialization role and dependent variable like prevention of teenage pregnancies correlate and whose data will be put in interval and ratio scales. The correlation coefficient, r, is a summary measure that describes the extent of the statistical relationship between the two variables or more. The correlation coefficient is scaled so that it is always between -1 and +1. When r is close to 0 this means that there is little relationship between the variables and the farther away from 0 r is, in either the positive or negative direction, the greater the relationship between the two variables. Multiple Regressions was also used to establish various ways in which teaching role influence teenage pregnancies of students in the sampled schools. In addition, ANOVA was used in order to determine if the regression models are adequately fitted to predict the dependent variable.
The following are regression model for testing the relationship between the independent and dependent variables.

Regression Model
The following linear regression model and multi-regression model was adopted; Y= ß0 + ßixi +e ……………Linear model . the further moderately agreed that many girls have joined secondary schools due to mentorship on early sex debut and teenage pregnancy (mean=3.479), followed by most girls' students have been mentored on issues related to sex as well as teenage pregnancy (mean=3.449), and that female teachers have been communicating on issues related to sex to the students (mean=3.227). This depicts that many girls have completed school without getting pregnant as a result of mentorship. The KIIs indicated that mentorship programs were effective in controlling pregnancy cases among school-going girls in the area where the study was done. This implies that if the mentorship programs are well implemented, the pregnancy cases among girls will reduce drastically. Majority of the KIIs asserted that the schools had mentorship programmes specifically for girls that were geared towards alleviating pregnancy cases among school girls. Some of the mentoring activities include using. The KIIs indicated that mentorship progammes that were organized in the schools were effective though there was need to allocate more time for mentoring activities. This is because the students get the message very well when they are told by people they consider as successful in the society. successful 'old girls' to act as mentors to encourage the girls to get focused on their studies. Santrock, (2013) states that mentorship progammes organized in the schools are effective in preventing teenage pregnancies. Teacher mentoring programs should be incorporated within multi-faceted approaches, addressing multiple risk behaviors among youth including drug use, school dropout, and delinquency, as well as teen pregnancy. Although some of these programs have been evaluated, unfortunately the evaluations are not sufficient to assess the impact of the mentoring component on adolescent sexual behavior.

Inferential Analysis of Influence of Mentorship Role on Prevention of Teenage Pregnancies
Objective two of this study was to determine the mentorship communication role of teachers in preventing teenage pregnancies in Narok Kenya. The following hypothesis was formulated and tested:  Dube, (2013) states that the nature of a mentoring relationship varies with the level and activities of both student and mentor. In general, however, each relationship must be based on a common goal: to advance the educational and personal growth of the student. A good mentor is approachable and available. In long-term relationships, friendships form naturally; students can gradually become colleagues. At the same time, strive as a mentor to be aware of the distinction between friendship and favoritism (Kirby, 2013).

Correlation between Mentorship Role and Prevention of Teenage Pregnancies
Correlational analysis using Pearson's product moment technique was done to determine the relationship between mentorship communication role and prevention of teenage pregnancies. Results of the correlation are presented in Sig. (2tailed) .000 N 388 388 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Results reveal that there is a significant positive relationship between mentorship communication role and prevention of teenage pregnancies (r = 0.630). This implies that there is a very strong association between mentorship communication role and prevention of teenage pregnancies which is significant.

Conclusions
The study concluded that mentorship programs were effective in controlling pregnancy cases among school-going girls in the area where the study was done. This implies that if the mentorship programs are well implemented, the pregnancy cases among girls will reduce drastically. The study concluded that individual teachers make decisions on their own regarding what and when to teach sexuality education. This discretion implies holding back information from the learners, teaching abstinence as the only way of preventing pregnancy or cancelling sexuality education sessions altogether.

Contribution of the research to the society
The findings of this research showed that mentorship helps prevent teenage pregnancies. This therefore means that girls would be able to advance in their studies, complete school and when they eventually are of age and ready for marriage, they can help alleviate vicious cycle of poverty as they are eligible to formal employment. This means they will be able to educate their children. There will be general growth in society as women will be empowered.

Recommendations of the Study
The study found that perception of the function of school counselors contrasted greatly between teachers and counselors. Thus the school administrators and teacher counselors should always consider these misconceptions when establishing guidance and counseling services. The teachers should be provided with communication skills they can adopt while communicating with the students about sex issues. There is need to bridge the gap between sexual knowledge and behaviour change at the point of interaction between teachers and students. The government (county or national) and policy makers should take into consideration the lack of information on communication between teachers and students on issues related to sex with a special focus on Narok County and other counties affected by this problem.