Knowledge of Sexually Transmitted Infection And its Association With The Reproductive Health Behaviour of Adolescents at AMASAMAN Senior Technical High School

ABSTRACT

Background: Sexually Transmitted Infections are a burden among adolescents. Records from the Adolescent Friendly Reproductive Health Services in Ga West Municipal Health Directorate revealed that there were 302 STI reported cases among adolescents from January 2014 to September 2017 within the Municipality. It was however not established what adolescents knew about STIs except for those who reported to the facility. This study therefore assessed the knowledge level, sources and availability of services on sexually transmitted infections and its association with reproductive health behavior among adolescents. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 295 adolescents in Amasaman Senior Technical High School. Participants were sampled using simple random sampling from SHS 1 and SHS 2 students between the ages of 14-17 years. They were provided with questionnaires to gather information on knowledge, sources of information, availability of services and their behaviours toward STIs. Data collected were analysed using Stata IC 15. Results: It was found that participants had inadequate knowledge on STIs specific to the following: - Trichomoniasis (3.1%), Hepatitis B (13.4%), HPV (8.2%) and Chlamydia (14.4%). The following were known-: Syphillis (80.8%), Gonorrhoea (88%) and HIV/AIDS (93.2%). The sources of information on STIs were: Teachers (77.1%), Television (73.3%), Radio (72.3%), Social media (63.7%), Health workers (59.3%), Parents (59.3%) Friends (40.1%) and the Church (11%). In terms of STI services available, participants knew about the Adolescent-Friendly Reproductive Health Services 26.7%, had STI counselling services in their school 49% and subjects that taught them about reproductive health 97.6%. Also, Reproductive Health Behavior of adolescents towards STIs indicated that 77% adolescents will seek treatment from the hospital if they had an STI, 48.3% will buy medications from the pharmacy and 36.6% will use herbal medications. About 78.8% will seek treatment together with their partners and 35.6% will have sex if their partners refused to use a condom. Also, students in SHS 2 had more knowledge 70.7% than those in SHS 1 60.3%. The same was observed in relation to their reproductive health behaviour, SHS 2 had less risky behaviour, 28.6% and SHS 1, 37.7%. There was a strong association between knowledge and reproductive health behaviour such that an increase in an adolescent’s knowledge by 1% reduced their risky behaviour by 0.31%. Adolescents who had good sources of information and services on STIs had less risky or good reproductive health behaviour as compared to those who did not. Conclusion: Adolescents were aware of some of the STIs, but knowledge on STIs was not in-depth. Most of the participants knew the common STIs such as HIV/AIDS, Gonorrhoea and Syphillis, while the other STIs were poorly known. Some of the participants knew some signs and symptoms such as vaginal itching, and pain and difficulty when urinating. Most of the signs and symptoms were not well known or not known at all. Adolescents knew the commonest mode of transmission, having unprotected sexual intercourse with an infected person 99.3%. Knowledge was associated with reproductive health behaviour. The higher the knowledge, the better the reproductive health behaviour and this depended on the age and class of the adolescent. It will be helpful in future that adolescents are provided with comprehensive knowledge on all STIs, paying particular attention in guiding them on the decisions and behaviours to adopt towards reproductive health.