Reproductive Health Problems and Health Seeking Behaviors in Urban Adolescent Girls of Bangladesh

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescents constitute about one fourth (23%) of the population in Bangladesh. Government has identified adolescent health as a priority issue in Health, Nutrition and population sector program (HNPSP) yet to access to information and services their reproductive health are very limited. The present study was done on 98 adolescents of their health seeking behavior on reproductive health problems in an adolescent clinic of a tertiary hospital situated in a peril-urban of Dhaka district. Aim of the study: The aim of the study was to understand the health seeking behaviors of adolescent females at a community level. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics Gynecology, Institute of child and Mother Health, Matuail, Bangladesh. The study duration was 6 months, from July 2007 to December 2007. Result: The study was conducted with a total of 98 adolescent females, where mean age was 15.95 years, and majority (68.4%) were unmarried. Lower abdominal pain was the most common problem, followed by menstrual problems. Most of the lower abdominal pain cases (45/46)
were associated with menstrual problems. Knowledge regarding health clinic came mostly from family or relatives. Conclusion: The study observed that there were very few participants visiting the hospital after facing problems for a short duration. Majority had their problems for 1-6 months, while some participants had also suffered from their problems for over a year before seeking medical help. This indicates a lack of interest in overall health seeking behavior among participants. Knowledge regarding hospital or health center were mainly acquired from family members.