The role of social support and interpersonal trust to improve compliance of iron supplementation amongst adolescent girls: A qualitative approach

Context: Adolescence is a crucial phase in preventing and controlling anaemia. One of the efforts made by the Indonesian government to overcome adolescent girl's anaemia is the iron and folic acid (IFA) supplementation programme. This programme is one of the most effective interventions that various countries have used to overcome anaemia. The key to the success of the supplementation of IFA is the compliance of adolescent girls. Aims: This study investigates the compliance and its contributing factors of IFA supplementation and the role of social support and interpersonal trust as a source of information and reminder amongst adolescent girls in Sidoarjo, Indonesia. Methods: This research was a qualitative study using the in-depth interview to collect data. Thirteen adolescent girls from three high schools in Sidoarjo, Indonesia, were recruited using a snowball sampling technique. Results: Most of the girls did not comply with IFA supplementation. Contributing factors were the influence of peers, influence of teachers, parental influence, risk and benefit of taking IFA tablet and also failure to remember to take IFA tablet. The social environment that provided information and reminder came from teacher, parent, peer and also health worker. Interpersonal trust was needed to have positive perceived social support. Conclusions: Compliance with the consumption of IFA supplements requires the cooperation of various parties (teachers, parents, peers and health workers) and also interpersonal trust between adolescent girls to their social environment so the programme could be run optimally.