KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION OF HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH TEENAGE PREGNANCY AND CHILDBEARING AMONG ARTISAN ADOLESCENTS IN IBADAN SOUTH EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT, OYO STATE

Abstract

Adolescent pregnancy and childbirth are social and public health concerns with a wide range of physical, psychological, social and economic consequences for the adolescent girls, their babies, families and communities. Despite the increasing prevalence of adolescent pregnancy and its complications,few literatures exists that have systematically explored artisan adolescents’ knowledge and perception on the health risks associated with teenage pregnancy and childbearing. Therefore, this study investigated the knowledge and perception of artisan adolescents on health risks of teenage pregnancy and childbearing. The study design was a cross-sectional study. A multistage sampling method was used to select 350 artisan adolescents across the 12 wards in Ibadan south east local government area. Quantitative instrument (semi-structured questionnaire) was used for data collection. The questionnaire included socio-demographic characteristics of respondents, a 44 point scale to measure the knowledge of adolescents on the health risks associated with teenage pregnancy and childbearing, a 19-point scale to assess respondents’ perception on the health risks associated with teenage pregnancy and childbearing and factors predisposing artisan adolescents to the health risks associated with teenage pregnancy and childbearing. Knowledge scores ≤15 were categorised as poor knowledge, ˃15 ≤ 30 were categorised as fair knowledge and ˃30 as good knowledge. Perception scores ≤8 were categorized as negative perception and scores ˃8 were categorised as positive perception. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square and multiple regression at α0.05. Respondents’ mean age was 17.0 ±1.5 years and 66.6% were females. Majority (76.6%) had fair knowledge score. 24.0% of the respondents stated that pregnancy can occur from the age of 12 years while majority (72.0%) agreed that female adolescents are at higher risks of health problems associated with pregnancy. Depression, STI, Abortion, premature labour and poor nutrition were the most common health risk of teenage pregnancy highlighted by respondents. Majority, (60.0%) of the respondent had a positive perception on the health risks associated with teenage pregnancy and childbearing. The overall mean score for the perception of respondent on the health risks associated with teenage pregnancy was determined at 12.6±3.2. There was significant association between age of respondents and knowledge on health risk of teenage pregnancy (R Square = 0.16; p<0.05). There was also a significant association between the level of knowledge of respondents and the level of perception of health risk associated with teenage pregnancy and childbearing (R Square = 0.025; p<0.005), indicating that respondents’ knowledge has a 2.5% influence on their level of perception. Results from this study indicate that there is a huge gap in the knowledge of respondents on health risks involved in teenage pregnancy and childbearing. However, the work place of artisan adolescents is a good setting for education, capacity building intervention aimed at increasing adolescents’ knowledge on health risks associated teenage pregnancy and childbearing which will assist in the control and mitigating the prevalence of adolescent pregnancy.