ABSTRACT
Introduction According to the frequency of teenage pregnancies among secondary school students, the high rate of sexually transmitted illnesses including HIV/AIDS, early marriages, premarital pregnancies, school dropouts, and teenage abortions, reproductive health has come to be seen as a social problem. Concentrating on the reproductive health of adolescents presents healthcare professionals with both a difficulty and an opportunity. While adolescents are generally in good health, many of them lack knowledge, experience, and comfort when it comes to using reproductive health services. The aim of the study was to assess and compare the knowledge, attitudes, and practices among male and female adolescents in public secondary school in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. The factors influencing the knowledge, attitudes, and practices were also assessed. Methodology A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 443 adolescent males and females attending secondary schools in the selected wards of Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. A structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used in the collection of data. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20 was used for analysis of data and associations between variables were determined using chi square test with level of significance set at p<0.05. Ethical clearance was gotten from the Ethical Committee of Edo State Ministry of Health. Results Findings from the study revealed the mean age of male and female adolescents was 16.40 ± 1.29 years and 16.18 ± 1.48 years respectively with higher proportion of the female (93.5%) in the late adolescents’ category compared to the female (87.3%) (p=0.027). Higher proportion of female (99.6%) never had sexual intercourse when compared with the male (86.5%) (p<0.001) and mothers of female adolescents (91.2%) had at least secondary education when compared with the male (84.2%) (p=0.024). Most of the male adolescents’ (58.6%), significantly (p=0.014) had negative attitude towards reproductive health when compared with the female adolescents (46.9%). The perceived factors that influence male adolescents’ knowledge, attitude and practice in relation to reproductive health were personal attitude towards their own health (66.5%) and fear of getting rebuked (66.5%) while for the female, it was their personal experience (65.6%) and personal attitudes towards their own health (148, 64.9%), The sociodemographic factor that was associated with adolescents’ attitude towards RH included gender (p=0.017) and their age at first sexual intercourse (p=0.022) while school class was associated with their practice of RH (p = 0.022). Conclusion and Recommendation This study revealed that male adolescents’ in Oredo LGA had negative attitude towards RH when compared with the female adolescents. It identified personal attitude towards own health, fear of getting rebuked and personal experience as perceived factors affecting male and female adolescents’ Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Reproductive Health. It was further concluded that Gender of adolescent and age at first sexual intercourse influenced their attitude towards RH while school class influenced their practice of RH. Therefore, age, gender and class specific interventions should be targeted to improve adolescents’ knowledge, attitude and practice towards RH. Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Reproductive Health, Oredo LGA.
