EDUCATING FATHERS ON CHILD MARRIAGE

Early marriage is known to be associated with negative health and psychosocial consequences, such as school dropout, reproductive health problems with pre and postnatal complications, intimate partner violence and divorce. Several international and local NGOs have noticed a rise in early child marriage cases in Lebanon following the Syrian crisis, mostly among the Syrian refugees residing in Lebanon. Numerous interventions have been conducted to educate adolescent girls and their families on the consequences of early child marriage or provide safe spaces. However, most of these interventions have involved teenage girls and /or their mothers, excluding the father who is the decision maker in marrying the children. This presentation is about a pilot test intervention targeting fathers of teenage boys and girls. The intervention was conducted in collaboration with PARD, a local NGO that provides services to underprivileged communities residing in Beirut. Fathers of teenage boys and girls were recruited for two interactive educational sessions on the reproductive and psychosocial consequences of early marriage. The first session explored the fathers’ reproductive health knowledge and reasons for marrying their teenage child, the second session corrected misinformation and provided alternative solutions. An assessment of the father’s attitudes on child marriage was done before the two educational sessions and repeated immediately and then three months after. There was a significant lack of reproductive health knowledge among fathers, which when provided, contributed to their willingness to delay the marriage their children .