Background: Sub-Saharan Africa is among the countries where 10% of girls become mothers by the age of 16\r\nyears old. The United Republic of Tanzania located in Sub-Saharan Africa is one country where teenage pregnancy\r\nis a problem facing adolescent girls. Adolescent pregnancy has been identified as one of the reasons for girls\r\ndropping out from school. This study�s purpose was to evaluate a reproductive health awareness program for the\r\nimprovement of reproductive health for adolescents in urban Tanzania.\r\nMethods: A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test research design was conducted to evaluate adolescents�\r\nknowledge, attitude, and behavior about reproductive health before and after the program. Data were collected\r\nfrom students aged 11 to 16, at Ilala Municipal, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. An anonymous 23-item questionnaire\r\nprovided the data. The program was conducted using a picture drama, reproductive health materials and group\r\ndiscussion.\r\nResults: In total, 313 questionnaires were distributed and 305 (97.4%) were useable for the final analysis. The mean\r\nage for girls was 12.5 years and 13.2 years for boys. A large minority of both girls (26.8%) and boys (41.4%) had\r\nexperienced sex and among the girls who had experienced sex, 51.2% reported that it was by force. The girls�\r\nmean score in the knowledge pre-test was 5.9, and 6.8 in post-test, which increased significantly (t = 7.9, p =\r\n0.000). The mean behavior pre-test score was 25.8 and post-test was 26.6, which showed a significant increase\r\n(t = 3.0, p = 0.003). The boys� mean score in the knowledge pre-test was 6.4 and 7.0 for the post-test, which\r\nincreased significantly (t = 4.5, p = 0.000). The mean behavior pre-test score was 25.6 and 26.4 in post-test, which\r\nshowed a significant increase (t = 2.4, p = 0.019). However, the pre-test and post-test attitude scores showed no\r\nstatistically significant difference for either girls or boys.\r\nConclusions: Teenagers have sexual experiences including sexual violence. Both of these phenomena are\r\nprevalent among school-going adolescents. The reproductive health program improved the students� knowledge\r\nand behavior about sexuality and decision-making after the program for both girls and boys. However, their\r\nattitudes about reproductive health were not likely to change based on the educational intervention as designed\r\nfor this study.
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