The Attitudes of Students, Parents and Teachers Towards the Promotion and Provision of Condoms for Adolescents in Addis Ababa
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Date
1994-05
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Addis Abeba Universty
Abstract
A cross-sectional descriptive survey through a selfadministered,
anonymous and structured questionnaire was conducted
from September to December, 1993 in ten high schools in Addis Ababa
to determine the sexual behaviour of adolescents, their knowledge
about AIDS, attitudes and practices regarding condoms, their
attitudes towards the promotion and distribution of condoms in
schools, and towards the incorporation of health and sex education
into the regular teaching curricula and into the teachers' training
curricula.
A total of 910 parents, 755 students and 232 teachers
participated in the survey. The results showed that, of the 355
students, 39.8% of the boys and 5.6% of the girls have had a sexual
experience. Peer pressure (35.2%) and by force (21.6%) were the
most important factors that precipitated the first sexual
encounter. 10 . 1% had coital contact with a commercial sex worker.
Only 42.2% of the sexually active students used condoms on their
first sexual encounter, and only 27 .7% used condoms continuously on
their subsequent sexual encounters. 59.0% of the parents, 56.6% of
the teachers and 37.7% of the students felt that most students have
adequate knowledge about AIDS. Only 38.8% of the parents, 34.0% of
the teachers and 42.8% the students felt that most students have
adequate information about condoms.
61.2% of the students, 60 . 0% of the parents and 61.6% of the
teachers approved the idea of condom distribution in schools. A
stratified analysis identified only age for parents, sex for
students and religion for teachers to have a statistically
significant influence upon the attitude towards the distribution of
condoms in schools.
An overwhelming majority in each of the three categories,
92.6% of the students, 98.7% of the parents and 96.1% of the
teachers, approved the incorporation of health education into the
regular teaching curricula. 80.1% of the students, 90 . 9% of the
parents and 96.1% of the teachers also supported the idea of sex
education in schools.
This study, based upon the findings, recommends that education
and health policy makers to make a relent l ess effort to commence
health and sex education by incorporating them into the regular
curricula; the implementation of subsequent surveys to identify the
most effective and acceptable routes of condom distribution in
schools; and implementation of similar surveys in the rural
settings to assess the attitudes in a different setting and acquire
a more general overview for the whole country .
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Keywords
The Attitudes of Students, Parents