African Journal of Biomedical Research

Background: By using Youth Friendly Services (YFS), adolescents may protect their sexual and reproductive health, which contributes to their overall and healthy transitional development. Nonetheless, sociocultural, institutional, and personal factors can affect the extent of YFS utilization. Having this backdrop the purpose of the study was to examine YFS utilization and the determinants among the youth in Bole Sub City, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Methods: Mixed approach with concurrent design was applied integrating quantitative data with the qualitative data simultaneously. Three hundred sixty-five (365) randomly selected and fifteen (15) purposively selected participants were involved in the study. Data was collected through questionnaires and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). Quantitative data was analysed through multiple regression, but the qualitative data was analysed through thematic content analysis.Results: The findings demonstrated that the level of YFS utilization was 49% at 95%CI (-0.061, .043), p = 0.72. There was main effect of YFS input quality on the YFS utilization of the youth with 34% (R-Square = .34, F (1,364) = 183.49, Beta = .60, p = .000.In addition to the interaction effects were found between YFS input quality and stigma/discrimination, 38% (R-Square = .38, F (2,362) = 109.99;B = .43; p = .000 and B =-.26;p=.000.Furthermore, triple interaction effect was found between YFS input quality, stigma/discrimination and YFS process quality with 39%(R-Square=.39,F(3,361)=75.75;Beta=.37;p=.000;Beta=-.27;p=.000;Beta=.11;Beta =.34;p=.0000. The fourth interaction was between YFS input quality, stigma/discrimination, YFS process quality and YFS awareness with 40 %( R-Square =.40, F (4,360) =58.80; Beta = .34; p=.000; Beta=-.30, p=.000; Beta=.12; p=.000 and Beta =.10; p=.000 respectively. Additionally, the findings discovered from the qualitative approaches supported the findings obtained from the quantitative data.Conclusion: YFS utilization in Bole Sub-City, Addis Ababa was low. The major determinants were YFS input quality, YFS process quality, stigma & discrimination, and awareness on the YFS.