Young, rural Indian women lack sexual and reproductive
health (SRH) information and agency and are at risk of negative sexual and
reproductive health outcomes. Youth-focused interventions have been shown to
improve agency and self-efficacy of young women to make decisions regarding
their sexual and reproductive health. The objectives of this study were to
assess young women’s sexual and reproductive health knowledge; describe their
health-seeking behaviors; describe young women’s experiences with sexual and
reproductive health issues, including unwanted pregnancy and abortion; and
identify sources of information, including media sources.
A cross-sectional survey with a representative sample of
1381 married and unmarried women young women (15–24 years) from three rural
community development blocks in Jharkhand, India was conducted in 2012.
Participants were asked a series of questions related to their SRH knowledge
and behavior, as well as questions related to their agency in several domains
related to self-efficacy and decision-making. Linear regression was used to
assess factors associated with greater or less individual agency and to
determine differences in SRH knowledge and behavior between married and
unmarried women.
Despite national policies, participants married young (mean
15.7 years) and bore children early (53 % with first birth by
17 years). Women achieved low composite scores on knowledge around sex and
pregnancy, contraception, and abortion knowledge. Around 3 % of married
young women reported experiencing induced abortion; 92 % of these women
used private or illegal providers. Married and unmarried women also had limited
agency in decision-making, freedom of mobility, self-efficacy, and financial
resources. Most of the women in the sample received SRH information by word of
mouth.
Lack of knowledge about sexual and reproductive health in
this context indicates that young rural Indian women would benefit from a
youth-friendly SRH intervention to improve the women’s self-efficacy and
decision-making capacity regarding their own health. A communication
intervention using outreach workers may be a successful method for delivering
this intervention.
Table 3 | |||||||||
| Percentage distribution of sources of information on SRH, contraception, and abortion in Jharkhand, 2012 | |||||||||
| SRH Information | Contraception Information | Abortion Information | |||||||
| Married | Unmarried | Married | Unmarried | Married | Unmarried | ||||
| (n = 690) | (n = 691) | p-value 1 | (n = 690) | (n = 691) | p-value | (n = 690) | (n = 691) | p-value | |
| Received any information | 89 | 69 | 0.001 | 89 | 74 | 0.001 | 10 | 3 | 0.001 |
| Source of Information 2 | |||||||||
| Friends / neighbors | 71 | 79 | 0.004 | 80 | 82 | 0.485 | 73 | 75 | 0.809 |
| Family members/ relatives | 72 | 79 | 0.022 | 74 | 72 | 0.344 | 42 | 38 | 0.697 |
| Husband | 34 | -- | 38 | -- | 17 | -- | |||
| Outreach (AWW/ASHA) | 27 | 15 | <0.001 | 29 | 14 | <0.001 | 20 | 17 | 0.699 |
| Mass media | 17 | 20 | 0.185 | 22 | 37 | <0.001 | 13 | 42 | 0.003 |
| Wall Sign | 2 | 10 | <0.001 | 9 | 20 | <0.001 | 1 | 8 | 0.100 |
| ANM/ Nurse | 5 | 3 | 0.069 | 6 | 3 | 0.016 | 9 | 4 | 0.468 |
| Health facility-Public | 1 | 2 | 0.118 | 3 | 1 | 0.021 | 3 | 8 | 0.258 |
| Health facility-Private | 7 | 2 | <0.001 | 5 | 1 | <0.001 | 19 | 0 | 0.022 |
| Other | 1 | 1 | 0.963 | 1 | <1 | 0.156 | 1 | 0 | 0.553 |
Full article at:
By:
1Ipas Development Foundation, E-63 Vasant
Marg, Vasant Vihar 110 057, New Delhi, India
2Ipas, 300 Market St., Suite 200, Chapel
Hill 27516, NC, USA
3Ipas Development Foundation, C-218 Ashok
Path Road #2, Ashok Nagar, Ranchi 834 002, Jharkhand, India
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