College of Health Sciences

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Browsing College of Health Sciences by Subject "Adolescents"

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    A community based study of contraceptive use among adolescents in Chorkor, a suburb of Accra
    (September, 2019) Vorsah, Genevieve Abla;
    Introduction Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and unwanted pregnancies among adolescents through effective contraceptive use is a global public health challenge in adolescent reproductive health matters. Contraception is defined as the use of a drug or device to prevent pregnancy before or after unprotected sexual intercourse. Aim The main research objective of this study is to examine the use of contraceptives among adolescents in the Chorkor community, a suburb of Accra. Methodology This survey adopted a cross-sectional study design to examine the factors contributing to the use of contraceptives among adolescents (people aged 10 to 19 years old) in the Chorkor community. Data was collected with a structured questionnaire which examined the demographic characteristics of the adolescents and questions relating to the objectives in the study. The data was analysed using SPSS version 20. Data was analysed descriptively and presented as counts and proportions for categorical variables. Univariate and multivariate analysis of both dependent and independent variables were done to establish associations among variables. Multiple logistics regression model was employed to calculate both adjusted and unadjusted odds ratios. Odds ratios outcomes was accepted at the 95% confidence interval and a 0.05 level of significance. v Findings Four hundred and twenty-six (426) adolescents participated in the study. There were a total of 206 (48.4 %) males and 220 (51.6 %) females. The average age for the study was 14.8 years with a standard deviation of 2.0 years. The minimum age recorded was 11 years and the maximum age was 19 years. The study did not show any statistically significant difference in the age distribution (p-value = 0.079). The main importance derived from the use of contraceptives by the adolescents is the avoidance of unwanted or unplanned pregnancies and the spread of STDs/STIs. 95.3 % of participants had low level of knowledge about contraceptives. There was no significant difference in gender for level of knowledge of contraceptives and the types of contraceptives available to the adolescents (p-value = 0.498). The overall prevalence of contraceptive use among the adolescents was 21.6 %. The prevalence of contraceptive use among male adolescents was 18.4 %. The prevalence of contraceptive use among female adolescents was 24.5 %. Willingness to continue with the use of contraceptives among adolescents was 97.3 %. Factors influencing the use of contraceptives among the adolescents included; age, education and want to avoid STDs. The methods of contraceptives currently in use by adolescents in the Chorkor community includes; condoms, implant/injectable, IUD, natural methods, periodic abstinence and pills. About twenty-five percent (24.6 %), nineteen percent (18.5 %) and one percent (0.5 %) of adolescents in Chorkor knows the existence of condom, the pill method and implant injectable respectively in the Chorkor community. Barriers to the use of contraceptive among adolescents were; cost of contraceptives, limited knowledge about the use of contraceptives, religious beliefs and availability of contraceptives. vi Conclusion The use of contraceptives among adolescents in the Chorkor community is very low although adolescents may have knowledge in at least one contraceptive method. There is a need for continuous education on the use and importance of contraceptives through various social-media platforms. Such educational interventions should be adolescent-centered.
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    Prevalence and risk factors of obesity among senior high school students in the Adansi North District in Ashanti Region of Ghana.
    (November 2016 ) Amoh, Isaac
    Obesity is a multifaceted condition that is caused by a combination of environmental, medical and psychological factors. It is one of today’s noticeable yet neglected public health problem with serious health consequences such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases that affect individuals of all ages globally. Adolescents are particularly prone to obesity owing to their reduction in physical activity, as well as to the greater accessibility of foods void of nutritional value. Additionally, adolescents’ susceptible nature and changing bodies also contribute to their increase weights. The life course perspective postulates that, excessive body weight can persist from adolescence to adulthood, and increase the risk of NCDs. Among the adolescents, the school environment is a crucial setting for the development of and, or engagement in unhealthy dietary and physical activity behaviour. The primary objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of obesity among Senior High School Students in the Adansi North District in the Ashanti Region. Also, the study sought to assess the physical activity levels and the food consumption pattern of the students, as well as establishing the relationship between the independent variables and obesity. A descriptive cross- sectional survey was conducted among 306 adolescents aged 12- 19 years. The adolescents were recruited from the five senior high schools in the district using stratified random sampling technique. Data was collected by the use of structured questionnaire and anthropometric data sheet to calculate for BMI levels. STATA version 11.1, and Microsoft Excel was used to analyze the data collected. Results from the chi-square test indicated that, there was a significant relationship between leisure activities and obesity such as playing computer games (x2=7.5086, df=9, p<0.05), and TV watching (x2=6.3576, df=2, p<0.05). There was no significant relationship between playing and assisting in household chores and obesity (x2=9.5706, df=7, p>0.05), (x2=7.2145, df=2, p>0.05) respectively. There was also a significant relationship between food consumption pattern and obesity (x2= 21.6181, df= 9, p< 0.05), a significant relationship was seen between mode of transportation and obesity (x2=30.6244, df=15, p<0.05) and there was a significant relationship between income level of parents and obesity (x2=8.3189, df=6, p<0.05). Overall prevalence of obesity among the adolescents was found to be 47.06%. Factors that were associated with the development of obesity were; physical inactivity levels and consumption of foods that were dense in fats and carbohydrates. Even though majority 62.75% of the respondents ate three times in a day, their meals were mainly energy dense foods and fats. Few of the respondents were found to be physically active and majority of them spent their leisure time watching TV (44.44%), whilst 23.2% spent their time playing computer games or video. Also 65.36% of the respondents consumed snacks in between meals while 54.58% did not consume fresh fruits for a whole week period. The study concludes that, the prevalence of obesity among the adolescents in the Adansi North District is quite high compared to rates in some developed countries. There is the need to plan for the most efficient and effective interventions not only to ensure food security, but also maintain healthy lifestyles, (thus, improving eating habits and increasing physical activities) so as to reduce the prevalence of obesity among the adolescents in Ghana as a whole.
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    Risk of Hiv infection among adolescents in Asokore Mampong municipality
    (November, 2019) Agyeman, Charlotte;
    This study sought to identify risk factors for HIV/AIDS among Junior High School students in the Asokore Mampong Municipality through assessing the knowledge of adolescents on HIV/AIDS and sex education, identifying risky sexual behaviours and also exploring cultural practices which could increase adolescents‟ risk of contracting HIV. A cross-sectional school-based design using simple random sampling technique was employed. Data collection was done using self-administered questionnaires among 403 adolescent High School students and analyzed using STATA version 14.0. The results were presented in frequencies, percentages for descriptive analysis and logistic regression were also used to determine the relationship between selected independent variables on the dependent variables with p < 0.05 being the threshold to measure statistically significant association. The results indicated that majority (50.2%) of the students between the age group 10-14 years and are mostly in JHS 2 (49.8%) had more knowledge on HIV with internet their major source of their knowledge than their counterparts. Majority (51.4%) of the students between the age group 10-14 years and are mostly in JHS 2 (62.5%) indicated not having sex before and majority of students who have had sex before between the age group 10-14 years representing (55.3%) had sex partners between 1-3 and are mostly in JHS 2 (67.1%). A significant number of students (51.1%) between age group 10-14 years indicated that cultural practices in their communities exposed them to blood contact or bodily fluids and the most dominant cultural practice as indicated by the students was male circumcision. Results from the logistic regression shows that, socio-demographic factors such as age (p=0.385), religion (p=0.435), class (p=0.615), were not found to be associated respondent‟s perceived of having HIV , level of knowledge of perceived risk of HIV were found not statistically significantly associated with the perceived risk of having HIV which indicated no significant influence( p=0.770) on perceived risk of HIV. Respondents who indicated that they had ever had sex had a significantly (p = 0.016) higher perceived risk of having HIV.
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    Risk of HIV infection among adolescents in Asokore Mampong Municipality
    (NOVEMBER, 2019) Agyeman, Charlotte;
    This study sought to identify risk factors for HIV/AIDS among Junior High School students in the Asokore Mampong Municipality through assessing the knowledge of adolescents on HIV/AIDS and sex education, identifying risky sexual behaviours and also exploring cultural practices which could increase adolescents‟ risk of contracting HIV. A cross-sectional school-based design using simple random sampling technique was employed. Data collection was done using self-administered questionnaires among 403 adolescent High School students and analyzed using STATA version 14.0. The results were presented in frequencies, percentages for descriptive analysis and logistic regression were also used to determine the relationship between selected independent variables on the dependent variables with p < 0.05 being the threshold to measure statistically significant association. The results indicated that majority (50.2%) of the students between the age group 10-14 years and are mostly in JHS 2 (49.8%) had more knowledge on HIV with internet their major source of their knowledge than their counterparts. Majority (51.4%) of the students between the age group 10-14 years and are mostly in JHS 2 (62.5%) indicated not having sex before and majority of students who have had sex before between the age group 10-14 years representing (55.3%) had sex partners between 1-3 and are mostly in JHS 2 (67.1%). A significant number of students (51.1%) between age group 10-14 years indicated that cultural practices in their communities exposed them to blood contact or bodily fluids and the most dominant cultural practice as indicated by the students was male circumcision. Results from the logistic regression shows that, socio-demographic factors such as age (p=0.385), religion (p=0.435), class (p=0.615), were not found to be associated respondent‟s perceived of having HIV , level of knowledge of perceived risk of HIV were found not statistically significantly associated with the perceived risk of having HIV which indicated no significant influence( p=0.770) on perceived risk of HIV. Respondents who indicated that they had ever had sex had a significantly (p = 0.016) higher perceived risk of having HIV.