The Attitudes of students, parents and teachers towards the promotion and provision of condoms for adolescents in Addis Ababa

Abstract

Abstract:

A cross-sectional descriptive survey through a self-administered, anonymous and structured questionnaire was conductd 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 755 students, 39.8% of the boys and 5.6% of the girls have had sexual experience. Peer pressure (35.2%) and force (21.6%) were the most important factors that precipitated the first sexual encounter. Ten percent of the students 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. 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. The idea of sex education in schools was also approved by 80.1% of the students, 90.9% of the parents and 96.1% of the teachers. This study, based upon the findings, recommends that education and health policy makers make relentless 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 school; 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. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1997;11(1):7-16]