Sexual and Reproductive Health in Adolescents-Myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about the Sexual and Reproductive Health in Adolescents. Answer: Introduction According to WHO, there is a need to recognize the importance of the sexual and reproductive health among the adolescents. Adolescence is the stage of life when they develop their sexuality at the age of 10-19 years. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, in developing countries about 21 million of the girls of the age 15-19 years become pregnant every year. Out of all the pregnancies, about 49% of them are unintended pregnancy. Out of all the pregnancies, about 49% of them are unintended pregnancy. During this point of time, they are extremely vulnerable to the external influences. It is the responsibility of the adults to protect them from the outside influences that are harmful. However, in a real world scenario, it is not the same. In addition, 38 million of the adolescent girls of the age 15-19 years are at a risk for pregnancy. There is lack of understanding of the specific sexual and reproductive health that challenges their needs and health outcomes. The re is sexual exploitation of the adolescents in the developing countries that leads to pregnancy among the adolescent girls resulting in teenage pregnancy, child birth, abortion and transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) (Santhya Jejeebhoy, 2015). There are many barriers that restrict the adolescents from seeking the health services. There is also lack of comfort while dealing with these sensitive issues s there is emanation of values or attitudes that are grounded in ones tradition or in ones beliefs (Wamoyi et al., 2014). There is also lack of sexual education and inaccessibility of reproductive health services makes it impossible for them to seek their reproductive health needs. Sexual education in schools and communities is considered to be a sensitive issue that holds stigma in the society (Kgesten et al., 2014). This results in a condition where the young people are not able to seek the sexual and reproductive health education and the services from the community. This scenario is witnessed in the developing and low income group countries where a small proportion of the population is able to address and seek their health needs. They have inadequate knowledge about the physical and mental consequences of unprotected sex. T his results in unwanted teenage pregnancy and complications of unsafe abortion and transmission of STDs among them (Guilamo-Ramos et al., 2014). As there is prevalence of stigmatization in the society, the adolescents are unable to reveal their reproductive health problems and seek help from the healthcare services. There is also inadequate information about the reproductive health among the adolescents, stigmatization or negative attitudes of the health workers and limited access due to financial barriers (Tegegn, Yazachew Gelaw, 2016). There are healthcare obstacles like day care, lack of transportation, financial problems, stigmatization and difficulty in using the existing healthcare services in the clinics. There is lack of social support and proper care required by the adolescent girls. Prenatal care is an important aspect which aids in the prevention of potential health complications during the pregnancy and helps them to promote healthy lifestyle habits. This benefits both the mother and the infant. There are many sexual and reproductive health challenges of adolescents that have additional burdens and have psychological consequences that not only affect the well-being of the young age mothers, but, also of their children. The child bearing at the young age increases the damaging consequences of the young mothers and their infants. The adolescents are reluctant to seek the healthcare services due to many barriers like the lack of supplies, materials, equipments, packages, judgmental health workers and lack of community training in understanding and addressing the adolescent reproductive needs (Denno, Hoopes Chandra-Mouli, 2015). These consequence shows that there is a need to escalate this issue from the local to regional level to the global level so that the burden of healthcare consequences of teenage pregnancy is addressed and this is the reason for the selection of this issue. At present, there is a literature gap that is helpful in understanding the importance of the required framework for the sexual and reproductive health in adolescents. There is also lack of improved understanding of effective interventions that safeguard the sexual and reproductive health in adolescents. The aims and objectives of this systemic review are to understand the barriers and consequences of poor health outcomes in sexual and reproductive health among the adolescents. This present systemic literature review was conducted to understand the sexual and reproductive needs of the adolescents and in understanding the importance of the required framework that addresses their positive sexual and reproductive outcomes. The present research also encompasses the reproductive challenges of the adolescents and explores the importance of proper framework that is required to maintain healthy sexual and reproductive health among the adolescents (Dittus et al., 2014). Methods The systemic literature review is the appropriate research method for addressing the research aims and objectives. This kind of method relies on the existing literature, summary of the main findings, limitations and identification of the results through a wide range of studies. There is transparency and clarity in systemic literature review. Search strategy- A comprehensive literature search was conducted for the systemic literature review. The appropriate articles were searched in a wide range of biomedical databases. Peer-reviewed articles were taken and citations were taken with the help of keywords. Databases used- The databases like Medline, CINAHL, PubMed, Science Direct, Cochrane library and EMBASE were used. These databases provide extensive literature on various topics and are peer-reviewed. These databases provide recent articles from the year 2013 along with full-text articles. Keywords used- Short phrases or words were taken from the research objective that were entered for obtaining relevant information related to the research aims and objectives. The keywords that were searched were adolescents, sexual and reproductive health, reproductive health, barriers and strategies. These search items were used for the research aims and objectives. Boolean operation- These are logical terms along with search keywords that had made the research effective. This helps the research to become appropriate and give more productive results. AND and OR are the Boolean operators. Selection criteria- The systemic review was used for the data selection. The articles from the year 2013 were used for the study. Full-text articles were used for the study. Relevant articles were taken from the databases. Qualitative studies were used for the study. The full articles were selected, read and finally selected for the systemic literature review. The selected articles were used that contained importance of sexual and reproductive health of the adolescents, challenges and barriers faced by the adolescents in seeking healthcare services. All the studies were in English language taken from different countries and provided information in a generalized manner. Data extraction- For the qualitative research that was employed in the research study were appraised according to the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) checklist that was advantageous for the research study. The studies included both the sexual and reproductive health needs and challenges of the adolescents. Data analysis- The articles were analyzed according to the main findings and presented in the systemic form. Comparison of the main findings was included in the discussion part and also highlighted the literature gaps for future practice. Findings It has been found that often alteration in the overall environment where a female survive can ensure better outcomes on her sexual as well as reproductive health. According to the findings of Svanemyr et al (2015), it had been found that a perfect ecological framework is very important for betterment of health of girls. At individual level, strategies like empowering girls, creating safe spaces and building their individual asset is entirely important to gather knowledge about their sexual and reproductive health. At the relationship level, parental and peer support along with effective communication help in maintaining their health. At the societal level, it is important to publish laws; policies along with promoting human rights are ways so that they can have proper knowledge how to maintain their sexual and reproductive health. Germain et al. (2015) have conducted a detailed research on the effects that had on the health of the adolescent girls after the implementation of the Programme of action that was agreed by 179 countries in the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994. Though they have provided good results however, the author remarks that there should be a better framework for the Sexual and reproductive health and rights called the SRHR. He has mentioned that there gaps need to be covered, which are inequalities in access to SRH services and information, need in improvement of services to meet human rights and medical ethics standards. The third gap is the inadequate use as well as absence of accountability mechanisms which would help in solving the other two gaps mentioned (Tornello, Riskind Patterson, 2014). Woog et al. had provided a paper where she had taken the information that had been collected from survey data conducted for about 70 developing countries. Here the adolescent women have clearly stated that they require access to health services that would provide service and information on sexual and reproductive health but they face different types of barriers I utilization of essential services. Moreover they are most likely to undergo abortions from untrained providers or even self abortion. They also are unable to recognize their pregnancies unless they reach the later gestations. It has also been found that in adolescents is Asia and Africa receive no treatment at all or to obtain care from a no trained source due to sexually transmitted diseases and this number is far lesser than the adolescents of Latin America and Caribbean countries. Shiferaw, Getahun and Asres had conducted a research in the year 2013 and set up their research in secondary schools as well as preparatory school students with the help of multistage sampling and using different self administered questionnaires. From this experiment, it was understood that adolescents has a very poor communication level with their parents. Poor parental involvement is one of the main contributing factors that fail to prevent young adolescents for developing knowledge about maintaining a safe sexual life. Sequentially, failure in maintaining a good reproductive life was due to the lack of proper skills of these individuals in sexual decision making. This paper had also suggested that often lack of proper health services and different counselling programs are yet absent in spite of rising needs of the young adolescents. Moreover active participation of parents is also found to be important in this guiding period. Taffa et al had published his findings in 2017 from two surveys which have been conducted. He had given a detailed description about how lack of communication between parents and children is one of the major contributors of lack unwell reproductive health and sexual practices. The findings have said adolescents mainly in the low income and middle income countries knowledge of sexual and reproductive health is very less and not enough to reduce the chance of risk taking. Sex is hold as a cultural taboo that prevents them from discussing the concept in details with their parents. Likely their parents are also seen to have a partial knowledge about their about adolescent sexual maturation and different complications that may rise from teenage pregnancy. Therefore the author had suggested incorporation of successful Family Life Education (FLE) that would involve education for both parents and children to develop their communication skills. Discussion From the findings, it is clearly evident that lack of proper education among the young adolescents regarding the dos and donts for their sexual and reproductive health have resulted them to the exposure of different risks. These risks not only contain development of sexually transmitted diseases, but also proper use of protections, contraceptive pills and many others. In the developing countries of Asia, Africa and many others, sex is considered as a cultural taboo and therefore it is not discussed clearly (Santhya JeeJebhoy, 2015). As a result, adolescents are only found to discuss the concepts with their peers who are equally less informed. Lack of proper knowledge in sexual and reproductive health often leads them to be engaged in activities that compromises their health and mental stability. These make them exposed to risky disorders as well. Therefore, a large number of researchers are of the opinions that a proper framework here is very urgent to address the issues. it is most ly found that women face a lot of barriers in order to get access to healthcare services regarding their sexual health. Moreover a gap in knowledge is found to be one of the most important reason that leads them to be vulnerable (Schalet et al., 2014). Other researchers have stated that women often do not get equal access to many options in healthcare and therefore it is the duty of the governmental authorities to look over the issue and make arrangements that will increase the access to the healthcare services. Therefore a proper framework governing all the above mentioned issues should be addressed by the governments. Another important area that acted as a contributor to improper sexual and reproductive health is the lack of proper communication among the parents and the young adolescents (Chandramouli et al., 2015) It has been found that this lack of education often contributes to poor sexual health due to practices which are not known by young people to be harmful. The parents s hould guide the young adolescents by providing them the crucial instructions which if followed will help them to develop their reproductive and sexual health (Hindin, Christiansen Ferguson, 2013). Many researchers suggestion to involve the parents along with their children into family learning intervention program conducted by communities as well as governments would help in developing a safer environment for the young adolescents where the sexual and reproductive health of the adolescents are not compromised and they can enjoy similar human rights. Conclusion The above findings of the articles illustrated that there is a wide gap in the knowledge and information about the sexual and reproductive health among the adolescents. There is lack of education among them that expose them to many health risks. There is risk for STDs due to unprotected sex among them. In the developing countries, parents do not talk openly about the sexual and reproductive health and also the harmful consequences of unprotected sex. As a result, they discuss these topics with their peers who also have less information about this issue. They also face a lot of barriers while accessing healthcare services due to the negative attitudes and stigmatization prevailing in the society. Therefore, it is required to develop a proper framework that will address this serious issue and promote healthy sexual and reproductive health among them. Health promotion programs are also required where the parents and their children will participate together and educated about the reprodu ctive and sexual health and consequences of unprotected sex among the adolescents. Moreover, it is also required to overcome the knowledge gap via sex education in schools and communities so that they can enjoy their reproductive rights and in safeguarding their sexual and reproductive health. References Chandra-Mouli, V., Camacho, A. V., Michaud, P. A. (2013). WHO guidelines on preventing early pregnancy and poor reproductive outcomes among adolescents in developing countries. Journal of Adolescent Health, 52(5), 517-522. Denno, D. M., Hoopes, A. J., Chandra-Mouli, V. (2015). Effective strategies to provide adolescent sexual and reproductive health services and to increase demand and community support. Journal of Adolescent Health, 56(1), S22-S41. Dittus, P. J., De Rosa, C. J., Jeffries, R. A., Afifi, A. A., Cumberland, W. G., Chung, E. Q., ... Ethier, K. A. (2014). The project connect health systems intervention: Linking sexually experienced youth to sexual and reproductive health care. Journal of Adolescent Health, 55(4), 528-534. Germain, A., Sen, G., Garcia-Moreno, C., Shankar, M. (2015). Advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights in low-and middle-income countries: Implications for the post-2015 global development agenda.Global public health,10(2), 137-148. Guilamo-Ramos, V., Lee, J. J., Kantor, L. M., Levine, D. S., Baum, S., Johnsen, J. (2015). Potential for using online and mobile education with parents and adolescents to impact sexual and reproductive health. Prevention Science, 16(1), 53-60. Hindin, M. J., Christiansen, C. S., Ferguson, B. J. (2013). Setting research priorities for adolescent sexual and reproductive health in low-and middle-income countries.Bulletin of the World Health Organization,91(1), 10-18. Kgesten, A., Parekh, J., Tunalp, ., Turke, S., Blum, R. W. (2014). Comprehensive adolescent health programs that include sexual and reproductive health services: a systematic review. American journal of public health, 104(12), e23-e36. Santhya, K. G., Jejeebhoy, S. J. (2015). Sexual and reproductive health and rights of adolescent girls: Evidence from low-and middle-income countries.Global Public Health,10(2), 189-221. Schalet, A. T., Santelli, J. S., Russell, S. T., Halpern, C. T., Miller, S. A., Pickering, S. S., ... Hoenig, J. M. (2014). Invited commentary: Broadening the evidence for adolescent sexual and reproductive health and education in the United States.Journal of youth and adolescence,43(10), 1595-1610. Shiferaw, K., Getahun, F., Asres, G. (2014). Assessment of adolescents communication on sexual and reproductive health matters with parents and associated factors among secondary and preparatory schools students in Debremarkos town, North West Ethiopia.Reproductive health,11(1), 2. Svanemyr, J., Amin, A., Robles, O. J., Greene, M. E. (2015). Creating an enabling environment for adolescent sexual and reproductive health: a framework and promising approaches.Journal of Adolescent Health,56(1), S7-S14. Taffa, N., Haimanot, R., Desalegn, S., Tesfaye, A., Mohammed, K. (2017). Do parents and young people communicate on sexual matters.The Ethiopian Journal of Health Development (EJHD),13(3). Tegegn, A., Yazachew, M., Gelaw, Y. (2016). Reproductive health knowledge and attitude among adolescents: a community based study in Jimma Town, Southwest Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Journal of Health Development (EJHD), 22(3). Tornello, S. L., Riskind, R. G., Patterson, C. J. (2014). Sexual orientation and sexual and reproductive health among adolescent young women in the United States. Journal of Adolescent Health, 54(2), 160-168. Wamoyi, J., Mshana, G., Mongi, A., Neke, N., Kapiga, S., Changalucha, J. (2014). A review of interventions addressing structural drivers of adolescents sexual and reproductive health vulnerability in sub-Saharan Africa: implications for sexual health programming. Reproductive health, 11(1), 88. Woog, V., Singh, S., Browne, A., Philbin, J. (2015). Adolescent womens need for and use of sexual and reproductive health services in developing countries.New York: Guttmacher Institute, 1-63.