Awareness, attitude, and acceptance of teenage girls toward going to gynecology clinic

Abstract

Background: Adolescence is the teenage phase; this period involves a transition and development from childhood to adulthood. Puberty in girls occurs earlier than males; females in the puberty phase experience various changes, including the menstrual cycle. Some abnormalities may occur during puberty, such as menstrual bleeding abnormalities, urogenital dysfunction, and inflammatory process, requiring consulting a gynecologist. This study was aimed to assess the awareness, attitude, and acceptance of teenage girls toward visiting the gynecological clinic. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study performed using a non-probability sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed online. All statistical analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 22. Results: This study included 512 teenage females; the large majority was Saudi, 97.3%, and the mean ± SD age of all participants was 16.25 ± 1.6. The primary source of information about puberty was friends, and the most significant proportion of females, 34.2%, reported the first period at 12 years of age. There were 80.3% who knew about puberty; the knowledge of puberty among females was significantly influenced by age (p = 0.0001), education of the mothers (p = 0.01), income (p = 0.04), and source of information about puberty (p = 0.01). Only 19.5% reported visiting gynecology clinics before; each age, level of education of the mother and the father significantly affected the visiting of females (p = 0.009, 0.04, 0.02) respectively. Conclusion: This study revealed that teenage girls have good knowledge about puberty; the primary source of information was friends. The teenage girls have a positive attitude to visit the gynecologists, and they were aware of the necessity of the services provided by the gynecologist.