Sexual Reproductive Health Education Research Articles

Applying ADDIE Model to Develop Multimedia Lessons for Adolescent Reproductive Health Education in Uganda

This study aimed to develop and evaluate a multimedia application intervention for adolescent sexual reproductive health education in secondary schools in Uganda. The lack of access to quality reproductive health education and services, exacerbated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic, contributes to unplanned pregnancies, health complications, and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) among adolescents in Uganda. Researchers and teachers collaborated to create multimedia lessons covering topics such as sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and SGBV for adolescents in participating schools. The educational content and format were co-designed to better incorporate the local context and address priority issues by involving end users of the software (adolescents and their teachers) as content contributors during the development phase. The innovative multimedia application was developed using the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE) model. A student manual was also created as a teaching tool, providing educators with lesson introductions and guiding questions for post-lesson group discussions. The manual includes a simplified print version of the educational content, ensuring that students and teachers in schools without ICT resources can benefit from the intervention. Questionnaires were developed and administered to 14 Results indicate that all 14 trained teachers demonstrated improved knowledge about the use of multimedia applications to deliver adolescent-friendly sexual reproductive health (SRH) education. Additionally, all 14 teachers self-reported that the multimedia application is a feasible and acceptable method to deliver adolescent-friendly SRH education.

Understanding sexual and reproductive health from the perspective of late adolescents in Northern Thailand: a phenomenological study

BackgroundWorldwide, Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) issues comprise a third of health problems for women aged 15–44. SRH education equips people with knowledge of concepts around sexuality and reproduction, and the skills help to make informed decisions to prevent sexual and reproductive ill-health, including unplanned pregnancy and HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of late adolescents relating to SRH, examining their attitudes toward sex and contraception, and to identify the gaps in knowledge pertiaing to decision-making around risk-taking behaviour.MethodsA qualitative phenomenological study was undertaken with 30 adolescents aged 18–19, purposively and snowball sampled from a university in Northern Thailand. Data collaction took place from July 2020 to January 2021. In-depth individual interviews were conducted until data saturation was reached. Data were recorded, transcribed, and analysed in ATLAS.ti version 9, using Modified Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to identify pertinent themes.ResultsParticipants revealed five key experiences of SRH related to sex and contraception: Keeping a secret; Seeking Freedom and Love; Having SRH education; Self-protection; Parental acceptance. All findings reflected the value and impact of SRH on the experiences of late adolescents.ConclusionsThis study provides detailed knowledge about adolescents’ perspectives of SRH and rights in terms of accessing sexual and reproductive health care and information as well as autonomy in sexual and reproductive decision-making. Gaining SRH education can assist decision-making concerning contraceptive methods for family planning and STI prevention. The study recommends that SRH and rights-based education should be designed responsively and appropriately for female and male adolescents, their families, and society. The content of SRH should be informed and advocated by healthcare providers, educators, policy makers, and systems to empower adolescents in order to achieve effective SRH education.

Sexual And Reproductive Health Needs, Experiences, Access To Services, And Interventions Among The Rohingya And The Afghan Refugee Women Of Reproductive Age In Asia: A Mixed Methods Systematic Review Protocol

Background: A humanitarian crisis disrupts the existing health care system limiting access to sexual reproductive health (SRH) services. The Asia and the Pacific region is home to 9.2 million refugees as of September 2020, most originating from Afghanistan and Myanmar. Afghan and Rohingya refugees have long been deprived of formal SRH education and face decades of discrimination in SRH services that can affect health outcomes. Purpose: This review examines the SRH status of Afghan and Rohingya refugee women of reproductive age in Asia and their needs and experiences in accessing these services and commodities. Methods: This protocol will follow the PRISMA checklist and standards for quality assessment of systematic reviews. The search strategy will be sought out all relevant peer-reviewed literature from five online bibliographic databases—SCOPUS, EMBASE (Ovid), MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL, and PROQUEST— using search terms related to the research questions. The review will include qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method studies to understand the status of SRH of Rohingya and Afghan refugees across Asia. Content analysis will undertake following the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) objectives. The review will use the mixed methods appraisal tool (MMAT) to assess the quality of individual studies. However, no studies will be excluded based on this assessment. Result: The findings of this review will provide insight into the needs, status, and experiences of SRH of the Afghan and Rohingya refugee women of reproductive age in Asia and could contribute to health service planning to deliver evidence-based interventions and policies to improve SRH outcomes in humanitarian settings across Asia. Systematic review registration: The review was registered in the PROSPERO database with ID CRD42021253975.

‘It is our duty:’ understanding parents’ perspectives on reproductive and sexual health education

ABSTRACT South Carolina ranks 16th in the USA for highest rates of teenage pregnancy. The South Carolina Comprehensive Health Education Act (CHEA) does not require medically accurate, unbiased, culturally appropriate materials, and varies greatly in compliance and implementation. This study aimed to better understand parents’ perspectives in one county in South Carolina regarding reproductive and sexual health education. A total of 484 parents responded to a qualitative questionnaire, collectively representing 798 students. Researchers conducted a thematic analysis to organise the data. Main themes identified include comprehensive reproductive and sexual health education as a duty; dispelling the myth of abstinence-only education; and the value of comprehensive reproductive and sexual health education. Parents described teaching reproductive sexual health education in public schools as a ‘duty.’ Furthermore, parents rejected the idea that abstinence-only education is effective and believed reproductive and sexual health education should be taught without the influence of religion. Parents valued inclusive reproductive and sexual health education, covering a robust set of topics. Findings from the study provide evidence for the need to update current reproductive and sexual health education materials and legislation to meet parental demands and reduce youth sexual and reproductive health disparities.

Contraceptive Knowledge and Practices of Undergraduate Female Students at Makerere University, Uganda

A study of contraceptive knowledge and practices of female Makerere University students shows that awareness of contraceptive methods did not translate into practice. Only about one-half of the students currently used contraceptives, mostly oral contraceptives (21.4%) and the male condom (26.4%). A third (30.2%) knew about long-term reversible contraception methods (LARCs) but only 13.4% used them. Staying in hostels outside campus is associated with 1.28 odds of using contraceptives compared to those who stayed in other residences. Sexual reproductive health education and other behavior-change interventions are urgently needed to deliver correct contraceptive information and increase their uptake by students.

The Dimensions, Perfidy and Ramifications of Teenage Pregnancies with Examples from a Few Countries of the Globe. A Literature Review

Globally, teenage pregnancy appears to burgeon everyday despite global efforts to tackle it. The much desirable wind of modernization and development seems to wreak havoc to the institutions of adolescent sexual health. The aim of this paper is to raise debates, discourses on the underpinning of teenage pregnancy and suggest solutions or newer perspectives to tackle the quagmire. The paper has used a review of literature methodology. Findings indicate that teenage pregnancy is a result of adolescent sexuality, alcohol and use of drugs, ineffective use, or lack of contraceptives, sexual abuse, media influence, childhood environment, low levels of skills for sexual negotiation, gender power imbalances, sexual coercion and violence, poverty, low socioeconomic status, and peer pressure, among others; teenage pregnancy dooms the future of the teenagers and families have a pivotal role of controlling teenage pregnancies; and there is an inextricable relationship between teenage pregnancies and HIV/AIDS prevalence. The paper recommends countries to bolster the adolescent sexual reproductive health education; invoking religious tenets and mythology; embracing cultural sexual mores and taboos; and having political and societal goodwill to counter cultural attack especially from the western world. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n15p609

ARSH 6: Reproductive Health Needs Assessment of Adolescents and Young People (15–24 y): A Qualitative Study on ‘Perceptions of Program Managers and Health Providers’

To understand the perceptions of program managers and service providers using in depth interview technique, a well-accepted qualitative research that can also offer semi quantitative input. Need assessment was done qualitatively using in-depth interviews, among program managers of health care system including District Medical Officers and RCH Officers and program service providers, both in rural and urban areas. In total 34 in-depth interviews were conducted. Nearly half (2+) of the program managers and service providers of adolescent programs opined that the important problems faced by adolescents were issues related to sexuality, psychosocial conflict, identity crisis, adjustment problems and scholastic problems. Approximately half of them thought that improper parenting, negative attitude of parents, separated parents, ignorance of parents, family background, nuclear family setup etc. are the most important factors, which influence adolescent problems and that friends and media are their major source of reproductive sexual health information. Nearly half of them pointed out that pain and psychological disturbances like anxiety, tension and anger were the important menstrual problems faced by adolescents. Again nearly half of them, felt that FLE (Family Life Education) should be given at school and ARSH services at PHCs, but there was little consensus on provision of contraceptive service and abortion services to adolescents. All the service providers and program managers are ready to cooperate but they had varied opinions about who should impart adolescent reproductive sexual health education and how the program should be done.

Effectiveness of a Reproductive Sexual Health Education Package among School Going Adolescents

To assess the effectiveness of a school based "Adolescent Reproductive Sexual Health Education (ARSHE) Package" in improving students' knowledge on reproductive sexual health matters. An ARSHE package originally developed at Child Development Centre, Kerala, modified and approved by ICMR taskforce group was administered in three urban schools (One boys only, one girls only and one co-education) and one co-education rural school at Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala. The study sample consisted of 1,586 adolescents including 996 boys and 560 girls of class IX and XI. Pre and post intervention knowledge regarding reproductive sexual health matters was assessed using a self-administered questionnaire. In the pre-intervention period, it was observed that majority of adolescents were poorly informed about reproductive sexual health matters, particularly about contraceptives. As compared to boys, girls had much poorer knowledge about prevention of pregnancy and after intervention; there was a statistically significant increase in the knowledge in both boys and girls. Among girls percentage of poor knowledge had reduced significantly from 64.1% to 8.3% and among boys from 37.7% to 3.5%. Similarly, increase in knowledge level was also observed in various other aspects of reproductive and sexual health including, STI, HIV/AIDS and perceptions about premarital sex. The study results revealed the feasibility and effectiveness of school based reproductive and sexual health education intervention programs for adolescents.

Attitude of Parents and Teachers towards Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health Education

To assess parents' and teachers' attitude towards Adolescent Reproductive Sexual Health Education (ARSHE). The study group consisted of a random sample of 795 parents and 115 teachers belonging to three urban schools (one boys only, one girls only and one co-education) and one co-education rural school at Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala, where an ICMR supported ARSHE intervention programme was done subsequently. A self-administered questionnaire for parents and teachers developed by an ICMR taskforce for ARSHE programme was used to assess their opinion on the need, content and the appropriate person to provide adolescent reproductive sexual health education in a school setting. 65.2% of parents and 40.9% teachers have not discussed growth and development issues with their adolescents. Only 5.2% teachers and 1.1% parents discussed sexual aspects with adolescents. 44% of parents agreed that information on HIV/AIDS/STD should be provided. More than 50% of parents were not sure whether information on topics like masturbation, dating, safe sex, contraceptives, pregnancy, abortion and childcare should be provided to adolescents. Results pointed out the need for introducing reproductive and sexual education in the school setting. Only 1.1% of parents and 5.2% teachers actually discussed sexual aspects with adolescents which highlights the need for parent and teacher awareness programs before ARSHE is introduced in the schools.