A cross-sectional study of awareness of reproductive health among rural adolescent girls in South India

ABSTRACT Introduction: Adolescent girls, especially, are exposed to multiple layers of vulnerability due to pernicious social norms affecting the value of girls, which in turn affects their ability to move freely and to make decisions affecting their work, education, marriage, and social relationships. Objectives: 1. To study the sociodemographic profile of rural adolescent girls. 2. To assess the awareness of reproductive health of rural adolescent girls. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2023 to August 2023 in a rural field practice area among rural adolescent school-going girls aged between 13 and 18 years from secondary schools. The sample size calculated was 200 which was selected from classes 9 th to 12 th by simple random technique from the list of the students. Data was collected with the help of a structured questionnaire by interviewing study participants about sociodemographic information and awareness about reproductive health. Results: The total number of study participants was 200 in the age group 13 to 18 years. Thirty-eight (19.0%) study respondents had the knowledge of fertilization. Twenty-nine (14.5%) reported that sexually transmitted diseases are the major reproductive health problems. Forty-eight (24.0%) reported that they heard about HIV/AIDS and only 37 (18.5%) responded correctly regarding the cause of AIDS. A total of 189 (94.5%) responded that they do not have any idea how to protect from HIV. Twenty-nine (14.5%) had no knowledge of premenstrual symptoms. A total of 193 (96.5%) had no knowledge about contraceptives and 199 (99.5%%) could not name any contraceptive. Conclusion: Overall awareness of reproductive health among rural adolescent girls was very poor. To make them aware, health education is important as early marriage in rural area is common.