Adolescent's Health Needs in Aran Bidgol city in 2015-16: A Cross-Sectional study
Abstract BackgroundPaying attention to the health of adolescents, especially girls, is one of the Millennium Development Goals and one of the missions of the member countries of the World Health Organization. Considering the importance of the health of this age group and that the first step in designing a comprehensive health plan is to assess the needs of the target group in the community, so this study was conducted to determine the health needs of adolescents in Aran and Bidgol in 2015-16.MethodThis cross-sectional study was performed on 497 students of 12-18 years in Aran and Bidgol in 2015-16. The data collection tool used in this study is the Adolescent Health Needs Questionnaire which is a psychometric instrument in accordance with Iranian culture. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) with the help of descriptive statistics and Chi-square test.ResultsParticipants in the study were 53.30% girls and 46.70% boys. The mean score of students' health needs in order of priority included nutrition (22.09±3.80), physical activity (10.19±2.90), health education services (64.30±15.90), healthy communication with parents (44.60±7.60), personal hygiene (21.10±2.71), mental health and counseling services (52.50±7.90) and spiritual health (21.90±3.70). ConclusionAccording to the results of this study, it is suggested that educational programs and interventions be designed and implemented in schools in order of priority to address the needs in various areas such as nutrition, physical activity, and healthy communication with parents, personal hygiene and spiritual health.