Peer-reviewed article
Factors associated with adolescent pregnancy among Chepang women and their health-seeking behavior in Ichchhakamana rural municipality of Chitwan district.
Pant S, Koirala S, Acharya AP, Pradhan PMS ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined adolescent pregnancy among the Chepang, a marginalized ethnic group in Nepal, surveying 217 girls aged 15-20 years. It found that 8.3% were currently pregnant and about 25% had experienced pregnancy during adolescence. Key risk factors included lack of education, low maternal education, and living in joint family structures. The study also found that Chepang women received fewer antenatal visits and consumed fewer iron tablets compared to national averages, indicating inadequate reproductive health-seeking behaviour.
Key points
- Current adolescent pregnancy prevalence was 8.3% (18 out of 217), with approximately one-quarter having experienced pregnancy during adolescence
- Lack of education among adolescent women and their mothers was significantly associated with adolescent pregnancy
- Living in joint family structures was a significant risk factor for adolescent pregnancy
- Chepang women had lower rates of antenatal visits and iron tablet consumption compared to national data
- The study recommends education and reproductive health awareness strategies to address adolescent pregnancy in this community
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional and cannot establish causal relationships between factors and adolescent pregnancy. The findings are specific to the Chepang community in one rural municipality and may not be generalizable to other populations or regions in Nepal.
Abstract
Adolescent pregnancy is a critical public health issue, particularly in developing regions like Nepal, where it poses significant risks to maternal and child health and perpetuates the cycle of poverty. This study focused on the marginalized Chepang community, which is endangered and faces unique challenges. The study aimed to explore the factors associated with adolescent pregnancy among Chepang women in Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality, Chitwan, Nepal, and also assessed their reproductive health-seeking behavior. A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted with 217 Chepang women aged 15-20 years, and data was collected through face-to-face interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire. The collected data was entered and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 20. Descriptive statistical tools like frequency, and percentage were used to express the results. Pearson chi-square test, Fisher exact test were used for bivariate analysis to determine the presence of association between the dependent and independent variables. Binary logistic regression was used for further analysis. The prevalence of current adolescent pregnancy was 8.3%(18), while one-fourth had experienced prior pregnancies during their adolescence. Factors significantly associated with adolescent pregnancy included lack of education among the women and their mothers, as well as living in joint families. Additionally, number of antenatal visits and consumption of iron tablets seemed to be lower among Chepang women in comparison to the national data. Chepang women had high adolescent pregnancy rates, with low education level and joint family structure being important risk factors for it. They also had inadequate reproductive health seeking behavior. Addressing these problems requires strategies that prioritize education and raise awareness about reproductive health.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Cross-sectional study assessing factors associated with adolescent pregnancy and reproductive health-seeking behaviour; no specific intervention was tested
- Population
- 217 Chepang women aged 15-20 years in Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality, Chitwan district, Nepal
Key finding
8.3% (18 women) were currently pregnant
S et al. · Europe PMC · 28 Mar 2024