Adapting the Objective-Reflective-Interpretive-Decisional (ORID) Framework: Lessons and Reflections From Collaborative Research to Support Pregnant and Mother Learners in South African Schools

Introduction This paper presents reflections on the process of adapting and applying creative facilitation methods to research how school stakeholders understand and experience support mechanisms for pregnant and young mother learners in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Methods The study adapted the Objective-Reflective-Interpretational-Decisional (ORID) framework to engage diverse stakeholders, including learners, educators, school governing bodies, and civil society organizations. Creative, agentive, and participatory approaches were used, including visual knowledge translation and storytelling. Results ORID facilitated incremental group learning, accounting for varying levels of knowledge and experience on learner pregnancy. Adapting ORID enabled pregnant and mother learners and a diverse set of supportive school stakeholders to share experiences and lead decision-making. Active participation and recommendation formulation created a safe and reciprocal research environment. Discussion This methodological innovation highlights the importance of socio-cultural context and power relations in research design. Pairing ORID with creative participatory methods effectively amplifies youth voices and agency. This approach can be applied to research adolescent sexual and reproductive health and well-being in diverse contexts.