The impact of reproductive and sexual health education among school going adolescents in Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Abstract

IntroductionThe sexual and reproductive health issues of adolescents are one of the most under discussed subject in many rural and remote areas in India including Andaman and Nicobar islands. It gives rise to unfavorable outcomes like sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unwanted pregnancies, illegal abortions and it also leads deteriorating mental health. Hence, study was conducted to assess the knowledge of mid-adolescents before and after sexual and reproductive education intervention in A& N islands. Materials and methodIt was a quasi-experimental study conducted among 252 school going children in A&N islands. The study was conducted among 3 randomly selected government schools and children were selected by stratified random sampling. A self designed pretested questionnaire was used to assess pretest and post test knowledge of children. The descriptive statistics and statistical test like chi square and Wilcoxon signed rank test were used for data analysis. ResultsThe median pretest knowledge score of children was 11.05 with inter quartile range of 7.15–15.20. The post test knowledge score of children was 20.87 with inter quartile range of 17.86–22.75. The change in knowledge score was statistically significant (p value = 0.0001). The main source of information of SRH to children was teachers (61.9%) followed by friends (33.3%). ConclusionThere was a marked improvement in SRH knowledge of school going adolescent after the educational intervention was given. Hence, adequate subject matter on the topic and trained professionals will also contribute to enhancement of knowledge of the students which in turn will help them to lead a reproductive healthy life.