"Sabi ni Inay": Voices of Selected Mothers and Adolescent Daughters on Reproductive Health in Urban and Rural Settings in the Philippines

Abstract

This qualitative narrative study explored reproductive health (RH) communication between Filipino mothers and their adolescent daughters in both urban and rural settings. Twelve participants (six mother-daughter pairs) were selected through purposive sampling from one urban barangay in Manila and one rural barangay in Nueva Ecija. Underpinned by the sociocultural tradition of communication theories, I conducted storytelling interviews in Tagalog-English (Taglish) from August to September 2023, allowing participants to share experiences in their own words. Narrative analysis was employed to identify key themes and stages of RH communication. Results revealed that menstruation often serves as the initial gateway to RH discussions, overshadowing broader topics of RH that promote total well-being related to sexuality and the reproductive system. Conversations frequently began reactively, triggered by life events, and were often one-way in nature, framed in moral or cautionary tones. Facilitators of RH dialogue included personal relevance, supportive mother-daughter relationships, and external influences such as schools, religious institutions, and media. Conversely, constraints stemmed from personal limitations like mothers’ limited knowledge, relational discomforts like generational differences, and societal influences of cultural taboos that discouraged open discussions. Effective RH communication requires emotionally safe spaces, culturally sensitive support, and active collaboration between families, schools, health services, and community institutions. By highlighting the relational and contextual nature of dialogues, the study contributes to the understanding of RH education as a gradual, relationship-based process that nurtures trust, empathy, cultural sensitivity. These insights can inform programs and policies designed to strengthen family-centered RH communication in the Philippine context.