Sexual and Reproductive Health Information Seeking Behaviour among Students: A Study of Labone Senior High School

Abstract

The contribution of communication in the fight of HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancies has become an important phenomenon in the health of adolescents and young people in Ghana. With a sample of 200 students from Labone High School, this study sought to investigate the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information seeking behaviour among students. Labone Senior High School is a mixed gender school where there is a proportional representation of students from a varied socio-economic background. Using a questionnaire as an instrument, a survey was carried out to obtain data from the respondents. An equal number of males and females participated in the survey in order to achieve a balanced representation of both sexes in the sample. Analysis of the responses showed that about 63 percent of the 197 students had families serving as dominant sources of SRH information for the adolescents, 21percent of the students pointed out that the media provides them with SRH information while 15percent relied on friends for SRH. The communication preference of SRH is not significantly different from the sources by which students access SRH information. Mothers were the most preferred sources (31percent) while the internet (28percent) was the second preferred source. The radio seemed to be the least preferred source as well as the least credible source adolescents access. Mothers were the sources most adolescents perceived as credible; friends on the other hand, were not perceived as credible, as many would have expected.