Utilization of youth friendly reproductive health services and associated factors among secondary school students in Southern Ethiopia, 2019: school-based cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: youth-friendly services are services that are accessible, acceptable, and appropriate for them. Youths are suffering by unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion and its complications and Sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) including HIV. However, a little study was done in Ethiopia previously. Hence, the purpose of this study is to assess the utilization of youth-friendly reproductive health services and associated factors among secondary school students in Areka Town, Sothern Ethiopia. METHODS: school-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 600 secondary school students at the Areka Town. A simple random sampling method was used to select the study participants. A structured and pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Data was entered using Epi data version 3.1 and exported to the SPSS version 20 for further analysis. Adjusted odds ratio at 95% confidence interval with p-value < 0.05 was estimated to identify the associated factors on multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: the magnitude of youth-friendly reproductive health service utilization was 44.2%, with 95% CI: (40.0-48.4). Having sexual experience (AOR: 14.72, 95%CI (2.41-89.79)), parental monitoring (AOR = 7.65, 95% CI (1.19-49.07)) and having good knowledge (AOR: 14.02 95% CI (9.34-21.53)) were factors independently associated with youth-friendly reproductive health service utilization. CONCLUSION: the study shows the utilization of youth-friendly reproductive health service were low. Having sexual intercourse experience, parental monitoring, and having good knowledge were predictors of youth-friendly reproductive health service utilization. Areka Town educational office in collaboration with multimedia should provide information and create awareness on youth-friendly service.