Reproductive health: knowledge and opinions of university students in Erzurum, Turkey

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to assess knowledge of reproductive health and the opinions of university students towards reproductive health education and family planning services.Methods: A questionnaire about reproductive health knowledge and the opinions of students was submitted to 673 systematically and randomly selected students at Ataturk University. A set of 39 questionswas used to determine the level of knowledge of reproductive health.Results: The level of reproductive health knowledge was below the theoretical mean value. An association was found betweengender, residential area, parents' education and sibling number with the reproductive health knowledge score. Most of the students approved of formal reproductive health education (88.4%). Approval of familyplanning services was lower than that of reproductive health education (71.6%). The percentage of men who support family planning services and reproductive health education was lower than that of women.Students who had graduated from Islamic religious schools had more negative opinions towards family planning services.Conclusions: University students lack knowledge about reproductive healthand most of them agree that reproductive health education should be given in schools. Knowledge about reproductive health differs significantly depending on some sociodemographic variables. Some studentshave negative opinions towards family planning services and reproductive health education.