Kazi Fahmida Lucy1, Monowar Ahmad Tarafdar2, Sohel Ahmed3, Meera Momtaz Sabeka4,
Sarder Mahmud Hossain5, Afroza Begum6
1. Project Manager, Surjer Hashi Clinic, Mirpur, Dhaka.
2. Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Jalalabad Ragib-Rabeya Medical College, Sylhet.
3. Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, North-East Medical College, Sylhet.
4. Medical Officer, Department of Medicine, Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital, Dhaka.
5. Professor, Department of Public Health, Northern University Bangladesh, Dhaka.
6. Associate Professor, Department of Maternal and Child Health, NIPSOM, Mohakhali, Dhaka.
Abstract
This intervention study was conducted among high school girls located in a rural area, during March 2013 to June 2013 with a view to determine the effectiveness of intervention program regarding some selected components of adolescent reproductive health. A total of 138 students were selected purposively from class IX and X. Initially, a baseline survey was done by a self-administered questionnaire. On the basis of the information an intervention program was planned, organized and conducted among those students. Sessions with 20 students in each group for group discussion, lecture and brainstorming were arranged according to lesson plan. Flip chart and black board were used as an aid followed by distribution of a hand note. Using the same questionnaire the post intervention data were collected. Knowledge was measured by a scoring system. Data was analyzed by SPSS. The mean age of the respondents was 14.23 years with SD ±0.65 years. Regarding parent’s education majority of the mothers were illiterate (25.4%) and below SSC (52.9%). About 36.2% fathers were illiterate or received primary education and rest 63.8% received secondary education, SSC or above. About 34.8% of the fathers were service holder and 30.4% were self employed. About 80.4% of the mothers were homemakers. About 42.8% of the respondent’s monthly family income was less than 5,000 taka, 38.4% was between 5,000-10,000 taka and only 18.8% was more than 10,000 taka. 39% of the respondents expressed that shyness was the constraints to the access of reproductive health information where as 34% said rigid social norms and non-friendly relationship with parents act as a barrier for the access to information about reproductive health. Regarding the opinion for selection of academic class to get reproductive health information about 35% respondents opined that Reproductive health education should be started “Before class VIII”, 61% “Class VIII to X”, and the rest opined it should be “Class X to XII”. Respondents having more than 10,000 taka monthly family income had the highest percentage of excellent knowledge before intervention. There was significant relationship between monthly family income and respondent’s knowledge about reproductive health (P=0.043). The association between level of knowledge before and after educational intervention is highly significant (P=0.000). This study revealed that appropriate and effective educational intervention program improves the knowledge of adolescent girls regarding reproductive health. Continuous educational intervention program should be arranged from secondary school level. Secondary selfool level was preferred for learning about reproductive health and sexuality. In conclusion it may be stated that intervention program improves the knowledge of adolescent girls.
Key words: Reproductive health, Adolescent girl