scholarly journals Reproductive health problems and their awareness among adolescent girls: a clinical study

Author(s):  
Sumedha Sharma ◽  
Puja Sharma

Background: The adolescent girls constitute a heterogeneous group who are at risk of various reproductive and gynecological problems. A number of health schemes are already aimed at targeting the needs of this special population. This study was aimed at identifying the special needs of this population group in respect of medical and reproductive health so as to provide a feedback for ongoing health schemes.Methods: This study was a cross sectional analytical study conducted among adolescent girls attending various government and public schools in Lucknow city and adolescent girls presenting to Gynecology OPD of Queen Mary’s Hospital for various complaints in a span of one year from June 2007 to June 2008. After taking consent, the girls were subjected to a questionnaire consisting of epidemiological parameters and questions regarding menstruation, pregnancy, birth spacing, contraception, abortion, RTI/STD, sex education. This data was later analysed. Those presenting to the OPD of Queen Mary Hospital were subjected to further examination and tests depending on their complaints.Results: A total of 1127 adolescent girls in the age group of 10-19 consented and were included in the study. Awareness regarding the contraceptive methods available was present in only 57.8%. 14% (164) girls were aware of reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted diseases. However, 61% (687) girls were aware about HIV/AIDS in particular. The mean age at menarche was 11.9±1.0 years. 21.5% had some menstrual problem. There were 34 cases of teenage pregnancy.Conclusions: Our study revealed substantial lacunae in the knowledge and attitude of young adolescent girls towards reproductive and sexual health. Despite various targeted health programs from the government, there is a still a need to further our efforts to improve access to health care and adopt methods to improve awareness regarding the health issues of adolescents.

Author(s):  
Anil Singh Baghel ◽  
Sanjay Kumar Chourasiya ◽  
Ravindra Pal ◽  
Ruchika Sharda

Background: Ujjain is holy city of Lord Mahankal. It is an ancient city on the eastern bank of the Kshipra River. There were total 2508 students studying in 11th and 12th standards in various higher secondary schools of Ujjain city. Reproductive health is a crucial part of general health and a central feature of human development. It is a reflection of health during childhood and crucial during adolescence and adulthood, sets the stage for health beyond the reproductive years. Adolescence is a complex period of myriad of physiological as well psychological changes. This is a time for them to prepare for making responsibilities, a time of exploration and widening horizons and a time to ensure healthy all-around development. Adolescents lack knowledge regarding reproductive health problems. The present study is conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding selected aspects of reproductive health with special reference to knowledge of Reproductive tract infections (RTI) among adolescent school students.Methods: This was a cross sectional study carried out among randomly selected school students of Ujjain city.Results: It was observed that 86% of the students had adequate knowledge in the area of pregnancy and care during pregnancy. The mean score percentage of reproductive tract infection was found to be 56.92%. 90.50% students agreed that Menstruation is normal phenomenon.Conclusions: There is need of imparting sex education in schools across the country with the help of specially trained teachers and peer educators.


Author(s):  
Dedik Sulistiawan

Background: Lifestyle in globalization era gives negative impacts on adolescent's premarital sexual activities. The wide gap between the age of menarche and marriage encourages an increase in premarital sexual activities, especially in socially vulnerable areas. This research presented premarital sexual activities among adolescents in the prostitution area and the influencing factors.Methods: This study was an analytical observational study with a cross-sectional design, involving as many as 70 adolescents who lived in the Dolly prostitution area of Surabaya, the second biggest city in Indonesia. The dependent variable in this study was adolescent premarital sexual activities. The independent variables were age, sex, education level, knowledge towards reproductive health, attitude, social-economic status, the onset of puberty categories, closeness to parents, access to sexual media, and peer pressure. Data were analyzed using simple and multiple logistic regressions.Results: The results showed that sociosexual behavior (sexual activity with partners) was significantly influenced by knowledge (OR=59.05; 95% CI=1.12-3114.22; p= 0.04). Adolescents who had less knowledge of reproductive health were more likely to engage in sociosexual behavior.Conclusions: The right knowledge about reproductive health is essential for adolescents. The government must implement a more effective intervention in order to increase adolescent’s knowledge about the accurate reproductive health information in socially vulnerable areas.


Author(s):  
Muthmainnah Muthmainnah ◽  
Ira Nurmala ◽  
Pulung Siswantara ◽  
Riris Diana Rachmayanti

Background: Adolescents are a vulnerable group who have great curiosity and need access to various adolescent health information. Therefore, the government has implemented a strategy through the implementation of Youth Care Health Services (YCHS). However, some of the stakeholders and youth have limited access to YCHS especially the ones delivered in schools setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate the implementation of adolescent health programs in schools especially public schools and religion-based schools.Design and methods: This study was an analytic observational quantitative study by using a cross-sectional design.This study was conducted in public schools and religion-based schools in North Surabaya Indonesia. The sample in this study consisted of 100 students through a simple random sampling technique.Results: There was a difference in the level of knowledge of adolescent reproductive health between public schools and religion-based schools (p=0,047). Student’s attitudes (p=0,000) and environmental influences (p=0,000) both related with reproductive health contents. However, there was no difference in adolescent’s attitudes about adolescent reproductive health programs (p=0,190) and adolescent’s exposure to adolescent reproductive health policies (p=0,196).Conclusion: The implementation of adolescent health programs in two types of schools (public and religion-based) were different. Adolescents should have the same rights to obtain knowledge about adolescent health as the prelude for forming a positive attitude. Therefore, stakeholders need to conduct regular monitoring and evaluation on the implementation of standardized adolescent health programs in all types of schools.


Author(s):  
Seema Grover ◽  
Nishi Garg ◽  
Rupali Rupali ◽  
Balpreet Kaur

Background: Adolescents are more vulnerable than adults to unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. Female adolescents have a higher risk of contracting an STD than their male counterparts. Hence creating awareness in them about reproductive health is the need of the hour.Methods: This was a cross sectional school based Study which was conducted in various schools of Faridkot city of Punjab where 400 Adolescent girls of class 11th and 12th age between 16-19 years, studying in English medium schools in district Faridkot through predesigned multiple choice questionnaires.Results: In our study, most of the girls (67%) were not aware about the meaning of reproductive health. Amongst contraceptive methods, 62.5% knew about condoms. The awareness about STDs was highest about HIV/AIDS (70.75%) and low (less than 20%) for other STDs. They also scored low about symptoms and route of transmission of STD’s. Only 17% of the girls knew about HPV vaccine. Attitude towards sex education was positive.Conclusions: Poor knowledge in girls about Reproductive Health and STDs (other than HIV/AIDS) is of serious concern. Therefore, education about reproductive health should be incorporated in the curriculum which should be given through teaching, interpersonal communication, television, health camps and specialist.


1970 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-11
Author(s):  
Tahera Parvin ◽  
Seikh Farid Uddin Akter ◽  
Sharmin Akhtar ◽  
MA Jabbar ◽  
AM Miah

Objectives: To assess status of reproductive health and nutrition amongst girls attending high school in an urban area of Bangladesh. Methods: This cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in four selected girl's high schools. A structured pre-tested questionnaire and a checklist were used to collect data through face-to-face interview and anthropometry. Results: A total of 360 adolescents girls were interviewed. The mean age at menarche of the respondents was found to be 12.4 years. More than half (54.2%) of the respondents were malnourished (BMI < 18.5). More than four-fifths (83%) were found to be suffering from reproductive health problems during or after menstruation. The most common complain (60%) disclosed by the adolescent girls was dysmenorrhoea. Majority (300) of the respondents acknowledged practicing unhygienic protective measures during menstruation. Conclusion: More than half of the adolescents were malnourished, practiced unhygienic protective measures during menstruation and disclosed different types of reproductive health complaints. Findings of the study strongly recommend that adolescent girls of urban Bangladesh need proper and appropriate management of their reproductive health problems. Ibrahim Med. Coll. J. 2008; 2(1): 9-11 Key words: Nutritional Status, Reproductive Health, Adolescence.   doi: 10.3329/imcj.v2i1.2924


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-123
Author(s):  
Shallu Garg ◽  
Anu Bhardwaj ◽  
Anshu Mittal ◽  
Suresh Bhonsla

Background: Adolescent girls often lack knowledge regarding reproductive health including menstruation hygiene. Poor menstrual hygiene can be a precursor reproductive tract infections and even cancer cervix. Objectives: To study the menstrual hygiene management among rural and urban school going adolescent girls Material and Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted among 420 adolescent girls (10 - 19 years). A self-designed semi- structured questionnaire was used to study the knowledge and practise regarding menstrual hygiene. Results: Knowledge about menstruation before attainment of menarche was 69% in urban and 58.9% in rural. Mother was the main source of information. Still 23.6% girls were using cloth or towels as menstrual absorbent, and 26.6% girls in rural area were washing their menstrual absorbent to be reused.91.7% and 81% girls had some restriction during menstruation Conclusion:  Awareness in urban adolescent girls was more in comparison to rural girls. The usage of sanitary pads was similar in both rural and urban areas. Menstrual hygiene was better in urban than rural areas. It is imperative that adolescent girls be educated about the, significance of menstruation, and proper hygienic practices during menstruation. Sex education in school curriculum can help in resolving misconceptions about menstruation.


1970 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-12
Author(s):  
B Zaman ◽  
RM Shampa ◽  
MA Rahman

Introduction: Adolescent is an important segment of life while a child undergoes biological transformation.Objective: The study was conducted to assess the level of knowledge of mothers about reproductive health needs of their adolescent girls. Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted on the mothers having adolescent girls. Data was collected by face to face interview with a semi structured questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS. The knowledge of mothers was assessed by Likert scale.Place of study: The study was conducted at 5 schools of Dhaka city on 118 respondents over a period of four months.Results: It was revealed from the findings that among 118 mothers the mean age of respondents were 40.71 years with standard deviation ± 3.707 years. Majority (70%) of respondents were undergraduate qualified and rest were post graduats. Among the respondents, 64% of mothers did not want to provide information on reproductive health to their daughters. Seventy two percent of the respondents had average knowledge about puberty. Among the respondents, 47% had average knowledge regarding adolescent reproductive health problems and 77% of respondents had average knowledge about safe motherhood. Regarding the complication of unsafe abortion, 73% had average knowledge and 70% had average knowledge about consequence of early pregnancy. Fifty seven percent of the respondents had good knowledge about Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Sixty one percent of the respondents had good knowledge regarding the high risk behaviour of the adolescents. Significant statistical association was found between knowledge and education, knowledge and occupation, and knowledge and source of information of reproductive health (p<0.05).Conclusion: The study findings may be helpful for baseline information and would be beneficial to the policymakers and programme planners to sophisticate further strategy to increase mothers' knowledge about the reproductive health needs of their adolescent girls.Key words: Knowledge; adolescent; reproductive health needs DOI: 10.3329/jafmc.v6i2.7266JAFMC Bangladesh. Vol 6, No 2 (December) 2010 pp.9-12


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 567-574
Author(s):  
Nasreen Akther ◽  
Meherunnessa Begum ◽  
Tamanna Tasmin ◽  
Khondoker Saif Imtiaz ◽  
Ahmed Nawsher Alam ◽  
...  

Background: In Bangladesh there is a scarcity of data on the degree of knowledge amongadolescents about reproductive health. Objective: To assess the awareness about reproductivehealth issues among adolescent girls in a rural area of Bangladesh. Materials and method: Thisdescriptive type of cross sectional study was conducted among 148 adolescent girls who wereselected purposively at PurbaChandara village of Kaliakairthana of Shafipurupazilla of Gazipurdistrict in Bangladesh. A pre-tested semi structured questionnaire was used to collect data byface to face interview. Results: Most of the respondents (76.35%) were within the age group of15-19 years. The average age of their menarche was 14 years. Majority of the respondents 136(91.89%) had history of menstruation and 97 (65.54%) mentioned the duration of menstrualcycle > 7 days. Regarding the hygienic practice during menstruation, majority of them (68.24%)were unhygienic. About knowledge on age at marriage, 131 (88.51%) reportedly mentionedcorrect answer that marriage age is 18 years or more for girls. Regarding the knowledge onfamily planning and family planning methods, most of them (41.89%) had no knowledge.About the infection of reproductive tract, 87 (58.78%) had no knowledge and about half of therespondents (92; 56.79%) had no knowledge about symptoms of STDs. Conclusion: it is ourresponsibility to improve the condition of adolescent girls by giving clear and correct knowledgeon reproductive health which will help them to maintain a good and sound reproductive healthin future. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.19(3) 2020 p.567-574


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (13) ◽  
pp. e491101321468
Author(s):  
Jéssica Kelly Ramos Cordeiro ◽  
Waleska Fernanda Souto Nóbrega ◽  
Milena Edite Casé de Oliveira ◽  
Kedma Anne Lima Gomes ◽  
Tiago Almeida de Oliveira ◽  
...  

Objective: to assess the knowledge and practices of adolescent students in relation to HIV/AIDS and other STIs. Methods: this is a cross-sectional study, with a quantitative approach, which included twelve public schools from seven cities in Rio Grande do Norte, with a sample of 623 individuals. Two electronic and interactive questionnaires were used for data collection. Data processing was performed using SPSS 25.0® and Stata 14.0. For the analysis of associated factors, the Item Response Theory was used. The project of this study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Protocol No. 99473118.2.0000.5292. Results: The participants who achieved the highest means of knowledge level were female (6.04 ± 4.47), with a partner (6.13 ± 4.49), white (6.10 ± 4.46) and received financial assistance from the government (6.72 ± 4.40). Most teenagers reported that they had already had their first sexual intercourse. Of those who continued to have sex in the last 6 months, only 31.3% used a condom. Final considerations: Adolescents have a considerable level of knowledge about the prevention of HIV/AIDS and other STIs, but their sexual practices do not follow the recommended preventive measures.


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