Exploring adolescent reproductive health knowledge, perceptions, and behavior, among students of non-government secondary schools supported by BRAC mentoring program in rural Bangladesh

Includes bibliographical references (page 31-33).

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Aktar, Bachera, Sarker, Malabika, Jenkins, Andrew
Other Authors: James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Journal of Asian Midwives (JAM) 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10361/5187
id 10361-5187
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spelling 10361-51872019-09-30T02:58:43Z Exploring adolescent reproductive health knowledge, perceptions, and behavior, among students of non-government secondary schools supported by BRAC mentoring program in rural Bangladesh Aktar, Bachera Sarker, Malabika Jenkins, Andrew James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University Sexual health BRAC mentoring programme Menstruation Wet dream ARH education Includes bibliographical references (page 31-33). Adolescence is the transition period from childhood to adulthood. Since Bangladesh is such a conservative society, reproductive health education for adolescents has not been widely introduced. Very small adolescent health components are included in the secondary and higher secondary school curricula. The BRAC Mentoring Program provides mentorship training to secondary school pupils to develop them as peer leaders. However, this program does not provide adolescent reproductive health education. Therefore, a study, supported by BRAC Education Program in rural Bangladesh, was conducted to explore the current status of reproductive health knowledge, perceptions and practice among the students of secondary schools. This study was conducted in November 2012 among the students of three secondary schools supported by BRAC Education Program in two sub-districts of Mymensingh district, Bangladesh. The qualitative study explored students’ reproductive health knowledge, perceptions, and behavior. Twenty four In-Depth Interviews and four Focus Group Discussions were conducted with students and four Key Informant Interviews were also conducted with teachers. The findings indicated that there is a lack of knowledge on reproductive health among the adolescent girls and boys of rural secondary schools. The students did not know about physical changes in puberty before the onset of such changes and mostly learnt about them from their own bodily experience. Mothers were the main source of information on menstruation for girls, and in case of boys, friends were the main source of information on wet dreams. All girls had comparatively good menstrual hygiene knowledge and practices. On the other hand, boys had very poor knowledge about wet dreams. Both girls and boys had poor knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases. However, they had better knowledge and perceptions about AIDS, in comparison with other issues of adolescent reproductive health. Though teachers and students felt uncomfortable with the teaching of reproductive health issues in class, but, interestingly, books were found to be the most reliable source of information for the students. Most of the students and teachers felt that the available information was inadequate for the adolescents. The study findings also showed that adolescent boys and girls had limited knowledge about reproductive health. Therefore, it is recommended that BRAC Education Program needs to provide adolescent reproductive health education in the school through peer education approach and provide special training to the teachers on teaching reproductive health education in class as well. Bachera Aktar Malabika Sarker Andrew Jenkins 2016-04-25T16:28:12Z 2016-04-25T16:28:12Z 2014 2014-09 Article Aktar, B., Sarker, M., & Jenkins, A. (2014). Exploring Adolescent Reproductive Health Knowledge, Perceptions, and Behavior, Among Students of Non-Government Secondary Schools Supported by BRAC Mentoring Program in Rural Bangladesh. Journal of Asian Midwives (JAM), 1(1), 17 – 33. Retrieved from http://ecommons.aku.edu/jam/vol1/iss1/4 2409-2290 http://hdl.handle.net/10361/5187 en BRAC University Journals are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. 18 pages application/pdf Journal of Asian Midwives (JAM)
institution Brac University
collection Institutional Repository
language English
topic Sexual health
BRAC mentoring programme
Menstruation
Wet dream
ARH education
spellingShingle Sexual health
BRAC mentoring programme
Menstruation
Wet dream
ARH education
Aktar, Bachera
Sarker, Malabika
Jenkins, Andrew
Exploring adolescent reproductive health knowledge, perceptions, and behavior, among students of non-government secondary schools supported by BRAC mentoring program in rural Bangladesh
description Includes bibliographical references (page 31-33).
author2 James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University
author_facet James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University
Aktar, Bachera
Sarker, Malabika
Jenkins, Andrew
format Article
author Aktar, Bachera
Sarker, Malabika
Jenkins, Andrew
author_sort Aktar, Bachera
title Exploring adolescent reproductive health knowledge, perceptions, and behavior, among students of non-government secondary schools supported by BRAC mentoring program in rural Bangladesh
title_short Exploring adolescent reproductive health knowledge, perceptions, and behavior, among students of non-government secondary schools supported by BRAC mentoring program in rural Bangladesh
title_full Exploring adolescent reproductive health knowledge, perceptions, and behavior, among students of non-government secondary schools supported by BRAC mentoring program in rural Bangladesh
title_fullStr Exploring adolescent reproductive health knowledge, perceptions, and behavior, among students of non-government secondary schools supported by BRAC mentoring program in rural Bangladesh
title_full_unstemmed Exploring adolescent reproductive health knowledge, perceptions, and behavior, among students of non-government secondary schools supported by BRAC mentoring program in rural Bangladesh
title_sort exploring adolescent reproductive health knowledge, perceptions, and behavior, among students of non-government secondary schools supported by brac mentoring program in rural bangladesh
publisher Journal of Asian Midwives (JAM)
publishDate 2016
url http://hdl.handle.net/10361/5187
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