Abstract:
Background:Effecti
veparent-youthcommunicationaboutsexualandreproductive
healthplaysapivotalroleinreducingriskybehaviorsandpromotinginformed
decision-maki
ngamongyouths.Whilethisiscrucialgloball
faceuniquechallenges,i
ncludingculturalbarri
y,pastoralcommunities
ers,geographi
cisolati
on,andlimited
healthcareaccessthatexacerbatesexualandreproducti
vehealthcommunication
gaps.Thisstudyexaminessexualandreproductivehealthcommunicationpatterns
andassociatedfactorsamonghighschoolstudentsinpastoralcommunitiesof
MiesoWoreda,Oromia,Ethiopia.
Objective:Toassessthemagnitudeofyouth-parentcommunicationonsexualand
reproducti
vehealthissuesandassociatedfactorsamonghighschoolstudentsof
pastoralcommunitiesatMiesoWoreda,westHaregeZone,Oromia,Ethiopi
a,2024.
MethodsandMaterials:Across-sectionalstudywasconductedatMiesoWoreda
highschoolsfrom November30toDecember7,2024,usingastratifiedrandom
samplingmethodtoselectparticipants.Atotalof320highschoolstudentswere
intervi
ewedwithapretestedquestionnaire.ThedatawasenteredintoEpi.Data
managerandexportedthananalyzedusingSTATAversion14.Variablesshowinga
connectioninbivari
ableanalyseswithaP-valuelessthan0.25ata95%confidence
intervalwereexportedtomul
tivari
ablelogisti
cregression,andaP-valueoflessthan
0.05wasconsideredsignifi
cant.
Results:Thestudyincl
uded320studentswitha100%responserate.Themeanage
oftherespondentswas20years(S.D.=±1.89)withamaximumandminimumof23
and17yearsold,respectivel
y.About60.3%ofparentscommunicatedtwoormore
SRHtopicswiththeirchildreni
nthepastyear.Signifi
cantpredictorsi
parentalSRHknowledge(AOR=5.14,95%CI:1.42-18.64),urbanresi
95%CI:1.19-15.07),andfemal
ncludedwere
dence(AOR=4.24,
egender(AOR=0.03,95%CI:0.003-0.325).
Conclusion:Youth-parentCommunicati
ononsexualandreproductivehealthissues
VII
wasmoderate.Thus,theMinistryofhealth,education,and otherconcerned
stakeholdersworki
nginareasofsexualandreproductivehealthshouldfocuson
enhancing parentalSRH knowledge,addressing rural-urban inequities,anovercominggender-basedcommunicationbarri
ersinpastoralcommuniti
es
