Abstract :
Background: Adolescence is a critical and vulnerable period of life. Many
adolescents face questions regarding their sexuality, pubertal sexual changes,
reproductive health issues, contraception and HIV. Opportunities to access
correct information about these are limited. To add on, the reservations
against sexuality education program has further limited the available
resources. This study attempts to understand the knowledge of school going
adolescents in the absence of sexuality education program.
Objective: To study the knowledge, perceptions and views of the school going
adolescents, regarding puberty, reproductive health, contraception and STIs
especially HIV-AIDS.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was done among 117 girls and 110 boys,
who were school students belonging to 9th and 10th standards, of a Marathimedium, municipal school from Mumbai.
Results: The students had poor understanding of pubertal changes,
menstruation, nocturnal emission, masturbation, conception and
contraception. Very few students had comprehensive knowledge about modes
of transmission of HIV with widespread misconceptions.
Conclusions: The knowledge of school-going adolescents, both boys and girls,
is poor about pubertal changes, reproductive health issues and HIV.
Adolescence health education program therefore needs to be considered as a
possible source of information.
Keyword :
Adolescence, HIV, Reproductive health, School children, Puberty.