Effectiveness of a Reproductive Sexual Health Education Package among School Going Adolescents

Objective To assess the effectiveness of a school based "Adolescent Reproductive Sexual Health Education (ARSHE) Package" in improving students' knowledge on reproductive sexual health matters. Methods An ARSHE package originally developed at Child Development Centre, Kerala, modified and approved by ICMR taskforce group was administered in three urban schools (One boys only, one girls only and one coeducation) and one co-education rural school at Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala. The study sample consisted of 1,586 adolescents including 996 boys and 560 girls of class IX and XI. Pre and post intervention knowledge regarding reproductive sexual health matters was assessed using a self-administered questionnaire. Results In the pre-intervention period, it was observed that majority of adolescents were poorly informed about reproductive sexual health matters, particularly about contraceptives. As compared to boys, girls had much poorer knowledge about prevention of pregnancy and after intervention; there was a statistically significant increase in the knowledge in both boys and girls. Among girls percentage of poor knowledge had reduced significantly from 64.1% to 8.3% and among boys from 37.7% to 3.5%. Similarly, increase in knowledge level was also observed in various other aspects of reproductive and sexual health including, STI, HIV/AIDS and perceptions about premarital sex. Conclusions The study results revealed the feasibility and effectiveness of school based reproductive and sexual health education intervention programs for adolescents.