Reproductive Health Services Utilization And Associated Factors Among Adolescent Of Age 15-19 In Debre Birhan Town

Background: Reproductive health care is the constellation of methods, techniques andrnservices that contribute to reproductive health and well-being by preventing and solvingrnsexual health problems. Utilization of those services is an important component inrnpreventing adolescents from different sexual and reproductive health problems.rnObjective: This study was aimed to investigate the level of reproductive health servicesrnutilization and associated factors among adolescents of age 15-19 who live inrnDebreBirhan town, Amhara National Regional State (ANRS), Ethiopia, 2016.rnMethodology: A community-based cross-sectional study was employed to assessrnreproductive health service utilization and its associated factors by administering a pre-rntested semi-structured questionnaire from April 5 - May 1, 2016. A multi stage systematicrnsampling technique was used to select a total of 648 adolescents living in 5 randomlyrnselected kebeles of DebreBirhan town. Data were entered and analyzed by SPSS versionrn21 software package. Logistic regression was done to identify possible factors associatedrnwith reproductive health service utilization. P value less than 0.05 was considered as arnlevel of significance.rnResults: About one-third (33.8%) of adolescents utilized at least one of reproductivernhealth services. Adolescents who had discussed sexual and reproductive health issuesrnwith their sexual partner and peers were 2 times more likely to use RH services than theirrncounter parts (AOR= 2.368, 95% CI: 1.168-4.802 and AOR= 2.360, 95% CI: 1.155-4.820rnrespectively). Adolescents who weren’t co-resided with both their parents were also aboutrn2 times more likely to utilize RH service than those who were living together (AOR= 2.570,rn95% CI= 1.155-4.820). Positive perception of oneself towards acquisition of HIV/AIDSrnurged the adolescents to use RH services twice than those who didn’t perceivernthemselves as risky (AOR= 2.231, 95%CI: 1.001 – 4.975).rnConclusion and recommendation: Utilization of RH services among adolescents in thernstudy area were low. Discussion with sexual partner and peers, risk perception of oneselfrntowards the acquisition of HIV/AIDS was among the predictors of RH services usage.rnTherefore, interventions such as advancing adolescents’ knowledge, facilitating parent tornchild communication, strengthening of youth centers and school reproductive health clubsrnare important steps to improve adolescent reproductive health service utilization.rnKey words: Reproductive health, Service utilization, Adolescent (of age 15-19)

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