Sexual reproductive health education interventions and their influence on reproductive health knowledge among adolescent girls living with disabilities, Kiambu County, Kenya
| dc.contributor.author | Kimani, Eunice W. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-09-01T09:47:59Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-09-01T09:47:59Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-05 | |
| dc.description | A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Health Sciences of Kenyatta University, May 2025 Supervisors: Dr. Jackim Nyamari Dr. Florence K. Nyamu, OGW | |
| dc.description.abstract | Adolescent sexuality and its outcomes is a global concern in the area of public health due to its severe consequences and negative impacts on wellbeing and health of girls. Adolescent girls living with disability are also affected. Many Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) programs have been developed for adolescent girls without tailor making them for those girls living with disabilities. This therefore raises the importance of having SRH intervention Programs that are tailor made to address the specific needs of adolescent girls with various disabilities. The effectiveness of such interventions must also be tested to ensure that these programs bring about the desired change in knowledge and skills related to SRH among this unique population. The study therefore investigated the effect of SRH education interventions among adolescent girls living with disabilities in Kiambu County, Kenya. The specific objectives were to determine the influence of sociodemographic characteristics, level of reproductive health knowledge, sources of SRH information and establish the factors that influence the uptake of reproductive health information and services. The study also assessed the influence of SRH educational interventions on SRH knowledge levels. This study utilized a quasiexperimental study design with an intervention and a control group. Purposive sampling was used to involve all willing and available participants who met the inclusion criteria. Girls aged between 10-19 years living with physical disabilities were sampled. Those living with other forms of disabilities were excluded to reduce confounding. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered for pre-test and post-test purposes. The study also did Key informant interviews with sub-county children’s officers and heads of institutions working with adolescent girls living with disabilities. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected. Paired sample t-test was employed in the analysis of quantitative data. Qualitative data was analyzed using themes. The findings of the study indicated that most sociodemographic characteristics were not significantly associated with levels of SRH knowledge, except social economic status (Level of study p=0.474; sexual debut p=0.472 religion p=0.328 age p=0.734: Social-economic status p=0.021). Most adolescents (76%) had poor SRH knowledge at pre-intervention period. The major sources of information were Television and radio. The SRH education intervention had significant impact in improvement in SRH knowledge (Cohens d=0.9) The study recommends provision of education on the adolescents’ reproductive health among those living with disabilities. This requires a team approach of various stakeholders from the Ministry of Education and Health. The school curriculum must incorporate aspects of SRH targeting adolescents since majority of them are in learning institutions. | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Kenyatta University | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/31341 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Kenyatta University | |
| dc.title | Sexual reproductive health education interventions and their influence on reproductive health knowledge among adolescent girls living with disabilities, Kiambu County, Kenya | |
| dc.type | Thesis |