Assessment of Perceived Quality of Reproductive Health Services and its Determinants among Young Adults in a Tertiary Health Facility in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Context: Challenges with reproductive health (RH) and poor perception of its services significantly define the outcome of an individual’s reproductive health status. Previous studies on the subject in south-western Nigeria have largely assessed the perception of young adults towards RH without paying attention to the determinants of their perception toward its services.

Objective: This study aimed at investigating young adults' knowledge of RH and the determinants of their perceptions towards reproductive health services (RHS) at the Federal Teaching Hospital Ido-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 326 respondents aged 18-26 years. Selection was done using the multi-stage sampling technique. A semi-structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire that assessed RH knowledge, RHS perception and utilization was used for data collection. Frequencies and percentages were used to describe variables while the chi-square test and binary logistic regression were employed for inferential data analysis. Statistical significance was set at p-value less than 0.05.

Results: Majority 205(62.9%) of the respondents had a good knowledge (≥50% score) of RH while a minority 148(45.4%) had a good perception of RHS. Significant determinants of RHS perceptions included age (p = 0.04, AOR = 2.51, 95% CI = 1.098-4.904), gender (p<0.001, AOR = 3.93, 95% CI = 1.569-7.191), marital status (p = 0.011, AOR = 3.49, 95% CI = 1.426-6.478), education level (p = 0.026, AOR = 2.97, 95% CI = 1.214-7.578), relationship duration (p = 0.03, AOR = 3.74, 95% CI = 1.333-6.375), degree of comfort in discussing sexual issues with partner (p <0.001, AOR = 4.34, 95% CI = 2.044-10.258), frequency of discussing RH issues with partner (p = 0.034, AOR = 3.67, 95% CI = 1.379-8.001), shared understanding of RH between partners (p = 0.027, AOR = 4.99, 95% CI = 1.236-12.363) and knowledge of RH (p = 0.002, AOR = 4.21, 95% CI = 1.931-9.889).

Conclusion: This study concluded that while over three-fifth of the respondents had an overall good knowledge of RH, only a little above two-fifth had a good perception of its services. The study highlights the need for improvement in targeted educational initiatives to address misconceptions especially among the early young adults, males, unmarried, the less educated, those in relationships of less than 6 months, those having partners and those with poor knowledge of RH.