Sexual and reproductive health awareness and service utilization during covid-19 among college students of Pokhara metropolitan.

Thesis Report.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction: Sexual and reproductive health services Utilization of is the key for the improvement in the quality of life of the youth. Therefore, this study aimed to assess sexual and reproductive health Awareness, services utilization and their associated factors among college students in Pokhara Metropolitan.

Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional quantitative study was carried out among 473 college students of Pokhara Metropolitan. Pretested self-administered structured questionnaire was used to obtain the information as per the objective of the study. Stratified sampling technique was used. Data were entered in to Epi-Data and exported to SPSS-for analysis. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analyses were carried out in order to obtain the result as per our objectives.

Results: The study found that mean age of participants was 21.23 years. More than half percent of participants had poor awareness level. The mean and standard deviation of SRH awareness score was found to be 16.44±6.64. Participants from Brahmin/Chettri(AOR=1.995, 95% CI:1.031-3.860), single types of family(AOR=1.893, 95% CI: 1.244-2.881), health science faculty of student (AOR=2.808, 95% CI: 1.529-5.159), fourth year students (AOR=1.568, 95% CI: 0.925-2.656), married (AOR=4.980, 95% CI: 1.590-15.600) middle and rich monthly income family (AOR=19.460, 95% CI: 2.218-170.748) and (AOR=18.716, 95% CI: 2.151-162.813) were found to be associated with SRH awareness level. Similarly, 9.7% of participants had utilized sexual and reproductive health services during COVID-19 period. Had a husband/wife/boyfriend//girlfriend (AOR=6.297, 95% CI: 3.233-12.263), having SRH problem (AOR=68.933, 95% CI: 26.82-177.22), Felt barrier (AOR=22.588, 95% CI: 4.865-104.876) were found to be associated with SRH service utilization.

Conclusion. Sexual and reproductive health awareness and services utilization among college students was inadequate and affected by several factors. Therefore, strengthening peer support, awareness program, inclusion of SRH topic in curriculum and addressing the gap in services were highly recommended.