Awareness and Behaviors of Preparatory School Students regarding Sexual and Reproductive Health in Port Said Governorate

Background: Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) considers an important aspect of shaping adolescent health and primary foundation for safe adulthood life. Awareness of SRH is a basic need for healthy adolescent life. Aim: To assess awareness and behaviors of preparatory school students regarding sexual and reproductive health in Port Said governorate. Research design: descriptive research design was used in this study. Setting: The study was carried out in six preparatory schools affiliated to Port Said governorate regions. Sample: A stratified multi-stage cluster sample of 207 preparatory school students enrolled in third preparatory grade. Tools of data collection: Two tools were used for collecting the data, SRH knowledge assessment questionnaire and student SRH behavior. Results: The results revealed that more than half (53.1%) of studied students were female, majority (82.6%) of studied students living in urban area, more than two thirds of studied students (66.7%) had spoken about sexual and reproductive health matters with other. Nearly half of (44.2%) of studied student's source of information was their friends and most of them never search about sexual content on the internet or attend programs about sexual health. Conclusion: majority of studied students had unsatisfactory SRH knowledge, more than two thirds of studied students never engaged in sexual and reproductive risk behavior and there was statistical significant relation between studied students total SRH knowledge and total SRH risk behavior. Recommendations: There is a crucial need to design and implement school-based sexual reproductive education programs to improve preparatory school student knowledge. Parental communication is important so, designing and applying educational sessions for parent-adolescent communication regarding sexual and reproductive health is vital.