REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROBLEMS, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SEEKING BEHAVIOUR AND BARRIERS OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SEEKING BEHAVIOUR AMONG TRIBAL ADOLESCENT GIRLS

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is the age between 10 to 19 years. This is the period with maximum growth spurt, shifting from childhood to adulthood .In India, poor reproductive health exists across all socio economic groups and in both rural and urban settings. The tribal community is one of the most vulnerable sectors of the population of a country, in terms of social development. Isolated dwelling places in difcult terrain, rigid customs and beliefs, Illiteracy and separation from the non tribal population expose them to many health and social issue. of the study were to assess OBJECTIVES the reproductive health problems, reproductive health seeking behaviour and its barriers among tribal adolescent girls studying in selected tribal schools of Kerala. A descriptive cross METHODS: th sectional study was conducted among 69 adolescent girls studying in 10 standard of two model residential schools in Kerala. The data collection was done during January 2021. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Study found that (78%) of the adolescent girls had moderate symptoms, (12%) with mild symptoms and (10%) had severe symptoms of reproductive health problems. The reproductive health seeking behaviour was good among (41%) of the sample, satisfactory among (55%) and (4%) had poor reproductive health seeking behaviour. No adolescent clinics and absence of regular health checkup at school were the barriers of reproductive health seeking behaviour reported by (100%) of the sample and among them (64%) were not aware about the adolescent clinics. The CONCLUSION: reproductive health problems were highly prevalent among adolescent girls and the reproductive health seeking behaviour needs to be improved.