Parent-Adolescent Communication on Sexual and Reproductive Health Issues and Affecting Factors in Asella Town, Arsi Zone, Ethiopia; A Community Based Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract Background: Parents’ communication on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues with their adolescent plays a great role in preventing morbidity and mortality associated with sexual behavior. However lack of parent to adolescent communication was a serious problem in Ethiopia resulted in teenage pregnancy, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), school problems, and other sexual risk behaviors. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the level of parent-adolescent communication and affecting factors on SRH issues in Ethiopia.Methods: A community based cross- sectional survey was conducted on 347 randomly selected parents of 10–19 year old teenagers. A random sampling was used to sample the study participants. A pre-tested and structured questionnaire as used to collect data. A binary and multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted for adjusted odds ratio (AOR) at 95% confidence interval (CI), variables at a P-value < 0.05 were considered as significant association.Results: The study showed that, 23.1% of parents had communication on SRH issues with their adolescents. Factors computed for adjusted odds ratio [AOR], such as parents completed some form of education (being grades 9–12 [AOR = 2.42, 95% CI: 1.06–5.53]; diploma and above [AOR = 4.78, 95% CI: 2.03–11.21]; having good knowledge [AOR = 3.08, 95% CI: 1.89–5.39]; and being having positive attitudes [AOR 3.03, 95% CI: 1.37–6.70] were significantly affect the communication.Conclusion: This study revealed that a low proportion of parents’ communication on SRH issues with their adolescents and multifaceted factors appear to determine their discussion. Thus, promotion of parent to adolescent communication, parents training and addressing the importance of parent to young people communication to all parents along with health care providers was important.Plain English summary Parent-adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) communication is one of the potential sources of information for adolescents on the issues. Agreed that adolescents in Ethiopia are faced with increasing SRH-related risks, it is important to understand how parents communicate about SRH to their adolescents from the parents’ perspectives. A community based cross-sectional study targeting parents was conducted at eight kebeles of Asella town, Arsi zone, Ethiopia based on interview survey. Three hundred forty seven (347) parents having children of 10-19 years in selected household were included. The majority of the parents 82.4%, agreed on the need of discussions with their adolescents and 72% had the good knowledge of SRH issues. However in this study, the level of parent-adolescent discussion on SRH issues was very low, 23.1%. The find showed that the main reason for not talking with their adolescents; perceived it may initiate adolescent for sexual practice, culturally unacceptable, shame/taboo, lack of awareness and being too busy. Also, the probability of discussion was found to be significantly higher among parents who had completed some form of education, parents who had good knowledge and positive attitude towards SRH issues as compared with those who didn’t have good knowledge and positive attitude on the topic. This study suggests for conducting qualitative research investigating the socio-cultural context within which the SRH communications happen.