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. 2012 Oct;54(4):344-8.
doi: 10.4103/0019-5545.104821.

Reproductive health awareness among urban school going adolescents in Vadodara city

P V Kotecha  1 , Sangita V Patel, V S Mazumdar, R K Baxi, Shobha Misra, Mansi Diwanji, Harsh Bakshi, Ekta Modi, Sandeep Shah, Kalpita Shringarpure
Affiliations

Reproductive health awareness among urban school going adolescents in Vadodara city

P V Kotecha et al. Indian J Psychiatry. 2012 Oct.

Abstract

Aims: To identify the reproductive health issues associated with adolescence and the readiness to avail services like Adolescent Friendly Clinic (AFC) among urban school going children.

Materials and methods: A quantitative survey was carried out using a self-administered structured questionnaire among 1440 (748 girls and 692 boys) students from classes 6 -12 in 7 English medium and 23 Gujarati medium schools. Focus group discussions, 5 each with adolescent boys and girls and teachers were held from Gujarati and English medium schools.

Results: A higher proportion of boys and girls could identify visible external changes in the opposite sex as compared to the changes not seen outwardly. The sources of information on human reproduction for most of the boys and girls were schoolbooks, television, teachers, friends and parents in the same order. Over two-thirds of the boys and girls expressed a need for more information on reproduction. Teachers also perceived that adolescents, though curious, lacked opportunities for open discussions to answer their queries related to reproductive health. One-third of the boys and one-fourth of the girls had heard about contraception. Two-thirds of boys and girls had heard of HIV/AIDS, and about half of them correctly knew various modes of transmission of HIV. Majority of the adolescents expressed their readiness to use the services of Adolescent Friendly Centre.

Conclusions and recommendations: Information on the human reproductive system and related issues on reproductive health need special attention. Teachers' sensitization to adolescent health care is required.

Keywords: Adolescents; reproductive awareness; urban.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Readiness to use adolescent friendly clinic if available (standard wise)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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