Abstract
Objectives:This study was conducted to determine the knowledge, opinions and practices of female adolescents in selected secondary schools in Limpopo Province of South Africa about reproductive health issues and assess the level of parental involvement in their choices.Materials and methods:A quantitative, exploratory, survey design was adopted. A total of 512 learners from grades 8 (first year of secondary school) and 12 (final year) were conveniently sampled from 24 randomly selected secondary schools in Limpopo Province. Data was collected with a structured, self-administered questionnaire and analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0.Results:Sixteen (3.9%) of the learners attained menarche at or before the early age of 8 years and 102 (29.3%) experienced sexual debut before age 14 years. More than half of grade 12 (n =84, 52.5%) and 49 (14%) of grade 8 learners were sexually active and 80% (n = 444, 86.7%) of them were unaware of contraceptives when engaging in sexual intercourse for the first time. Only 116 (22.7%) of the respondents admitted to having knowledge about contraceptives before engaging in sex for the first time and more than a third (n = 172, 33.6%) have been pregnant at least once before the study was conducted. Parental involvement in Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) education was found to be low and many obtained the little information they have mainly through friends.Conclusion:Many adolescents are lacking in vital information regarding their SRH and some hold wrong opinions about contraception. Parents are advised to initiate and sustain discussions regarding SRH with their children to help them make informed reproductive health choices.
Highlights
The World Health Organization defines an adolescent as a young person aged between 10 and 19 years [1]
All the respondents in this study were within the adolescent age category
194 (37.9%) of the study adolescents lived with both parents while 104 (20.3%) and 182 (35.5%) live with father or with mother, respectively (Table 1)
Summary
The World Health Organization defines an adolescent as a young person aged between 10 and 19 years [1]. The Open Public Health Journal, 2018, Volume 11 exposes them to adverse reproductive health consequences including sexually transmitted infections, unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and maternal health complications [3]. In 2016, it was reported that an estimated 21 million adolescent pregnancies occurred in the developing countries with almost half of the pregnancies unplanned and unwanted [6]. About half of pregnancies in this age group usually end up in induced abortion resulting in approximately 17,000 deaths of young women from complications arising from the pregnancies or childbirth [6]. Incidences of teenage pregnancies are higher in Africa (130/1,000 girls) where sexual issues are not openly discussed as compared with Asia (58/1,000 girls) and Europe (29/1,000 girls) where there are more open discussions regarding reproductive health issues [7]
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