Utilization of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services Among Adolescents At Asante Akyem North District

ABSTRACT

Adolescents encounter general as well as sexual and reproductive health problems which if not resolved can affect them not only at this stage but in adulthood. Given this, globally, there is an increased concern about the sexual and reproductive health and adolescents’ development and Ghana is no exception. The purpose of the study was to explore the utilisation of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services among adolescents at Asante Akyem North district. The study was guided by the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and was ethically approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research at the University of Ghana. The study employed a qualitative interpretive, descriptive design. Fifteen adolescents (15 to 19 years of age) who have utilised SRH services were purposively sampled from the various health facilities in the district. An interview guide was used to gather data, which was audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic content analysis. Six main themes emerged from the analysis which was further categorised into sub-themes. The major themes described the attitudes of adolescents towards SRH services, social pressures (subjective norms), perceived behavioural control and the intentions of adolescents to use SRH services. The other emerged themes included state of adolescents before using SRH services and perceptions of adolescents on SRH services which were additional themes to the constructs of the TPB. The findings indicated that most adolescents have positive attitudes towards SRH services. Their utilisation of SRH services was influenced by social pressures and faced a lot of challenges and barriers when using SRH services. However, most of the adolescents were willing to use SRH services in the future. The adolescents had sentiments as the considered moral issues associated with their use of SRH services but rationalised it by weighing benefits over cost. Adolescents also gave recommendations on how SRH services should be packaged to Utilisation of SRH Services among Adolescents xiii meet their needs. Participants were confident that if their significant others approve of their utilisation of SRH services, it will be easy for them to use the services. It was recommended that policies should be made to strengthen the existing SRH services at the general hospitals and clinics to ensure that services are youth friendly by providing private rooms for adolescents to serve them at their convenient hours. Future research should focus on the sexually active adolescents who have not used SRH services.