Perception of Adolescents on the Attitudes of Providers on Their Access and Use of Reproductive Health Services in Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines the perception of adolescents on the attitudes of providers on their access and use of reproductive health services (ARHS) in Delta State, Nigeria, with a view of assessing the impact of providers’ attitude on the use of adolescents’ reproductive health services in Delta State. The study adopted a survey design to collect primary data using questionnaires and focus group discussions (FGDs) from adolescents in a sample of schools. A sample size of 1500 respondents was taken from 12 schools in six Local Government Areas in three Senatorial Districts in Delta State, Nigeria. The locations of the schools were such that six each were in rural and urban communities respectively. The result from the study was that unfriendly attitudes of providers which keep adolescents waiting, inadequate duration of consultations, judgmental attitudes of some providers, lack of satisfactory services provision and lack of confidentiality will put off adolescents from accessing and using adolescents’ reproductive health services irrespective of their sex, age, class, religion, residence, ethnic group, parents’ education or income levels. The paper concludes that medical personnel take all these issues very seriously when dealing with adolescents to enhance access and use adolescents’ reproductive health services in Delta State and indeed Nigeria.