Parent-adolescents communication on sexual and reproductive health issues and associated factors among students in high school and preparatory in Arekit, Southwest, Ethiopia, 2020

Abstract

BackgroundSexual and reproductive health is a major global public health concern, and teenagers in Africa, in particular, face a variety of unresolved issues. Adolescent pregnancies are occurring more than 50% earlier in Africa, and new HIV infections are rising more frequently by more than 80%. Talking to parents and teens about sexual and reproductive issues is not regarded as a critical strategy in Ethiopia. This study aimed to assess parent-adolescent communication on sexual and reproductive health issues and related factors among high school and preparatory students in Arekit, southwest Ethiopia. MethodsA study was carried out with students from Southwest Ethiopia's Arekit High and Preparatory School. A cross-sectional study conducted within an institution was used. A total of 522 participants were included in the study. The study's participants were chosen using a multistage sampling procedure; first, the children were divided into strata based on grades (9–12). The participants were then chosen systematically by sampling from each section. Student rosters were utilized as a sampling frame to choose the participant, and proportionate allocation was used to calculate the number of students in each grade. Data was entered using Epi-data version 4.6, and SPSS version 23 was used to analyse it. After multivariate analysis, the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) was used to measure how strongly the dependent variable and independent variable were related, with the p-value being used to identify whether the relationship was significant. ResultsMore than half of the participants (56.6 %) reported SRH problems in parent-adolescent communication. This research reveals that students who thought it was important to talk about sexual and reproductive health issues (AOR: 2.73: 95 % CI: 1.312–4.53), female students, and parents with a high school diploma or higher were all significantly associated with parent-adolescent communication on sexual and reproductive health. ConclusionAccording to the findings of this study, while parents were aware of teenage and even youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services, adolescents and parents did not commonly communicate about sexual and reproductive health issues. Communication challenges that vary with age and environment should be investigated further.