Knowledge and attitude towards sexual and reproductive health rights and associated factors among Adet Tana Haik College students, Northwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: Sexual and reproductive health rights are the rights of all people regardless of their age, sex and other characteristics to make choices about their own sexuality and reproductive issues. However, little is known about the knowledge and attitude towards SRH rights in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess knowledge and attitude towards SRH rights and associated factors among Adet Tana Haik college students in northwest Ethiopia. RESULTS: Overall, about 59.6% students were knowledgeable and more than half (53.4%) had favorable attitude towards SRH rights. In this study, students attending third-year class (AOR = 2.20;95% CI 1.29, 3.33), discussion with parents (AOR = 3.35;95% CI 1.61, 6.96), respondent’s mothers attended secondary/above school (AOR = 3.01; 95% CI 1.28, 7.13), participation in RH clubs (AOR = 1.72; 95% CI 1.09, 2.70) and favorable attitude towards SRH rights (AOR = 2.41; 95% CI 1.56, 3.74) were significantly associated with knowledge of participants. On the other hand, knowledge of students (AOR = 2.33; 95% CI 1.36, 7.07), participation in RH clubs (AOR = 1.41;95% CI 1.09, 2.20) and discussion with parents (AOR = 2.50; 95% CI 1.15, 5.47) were the predictors for the attitude of students towards SRH rights. Hence, strengthening women’s education, encouraging discussions with parents and participation in RH clubs may improve the knowledge and attitude of students towards SRH rights. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-019-4116-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.