Peer-reviewed article
To Assess the Impact of IEC Activities on Knowledge of Family Planning among Adolescent Girls of 13-17 yrs in Rural Area of Amritsar
Kamal Jyoti, Sanjeev Mahajan, Mohan Lal, Nihal Gulati ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study tested the impact of information and education activities on adolescent girls' knowledge of family planning in rural Punjab, India. Researchers worked with 230 girls aged 13-17 years in schools and villages, delivering educational sessions about contraceptive methods and marriage age. After three months, girls showed improved knowledge about contraceptives and legal marriage age. The intervention aimed to reduce early marriage and teenage pregnancy among adolescents.
Key points
- Before the intervention, only 26.08% of girls had heard about contraceptive methods; this increased to 68.69% after intervention
- 31.73% of girls had correct knowledge about the legal age of marriage for girls
- The study included both in-school and out-of-school adolescent girls from two rural villages
- Early marriage, teenage pregnancy and lack of family planning knowledge are identified as major health issues affecting adolescent girls
Limitations
The document does not report a comparison or control group, so we cannot determine whether knowledge gains were due to the intervention or other factors. There is no long-term follow-up data to show whether increased knowledge translated into behaviour change or better health outcomes.
Abstract
Back Ground: The major health issues among adolescent girls are early pregnancy, child birth, anemia. Lack of knowledge related to family planning among adolescent girls can adversely affect their and their children lives. Sexual activity in adolescent period is associated with ignorance about sex and sexuality and also predisposed by family traditions of early marriage that can lead to teenage pregnancies leading to illegal abortion, increased IMR and MMR. Adolescents should have knowledge of the health concerns and side effects of contraceptives so that they can make choices to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Aims and Objectives: Assessing the impact of IEC activities on knowledge of family planning among adolescent girls of rural area of Amritsar. Material and Methods: An interventional study was carried out among 13-17 years adolescent girls studying in the Government Senior Secondary Schools at Nagkalan and Sohian Kalan and out of school adolescent girls of the same age group residents of these two villages were also included in the study. IEC activities were done and after three months the effect of intervention was assessed. Among the enlisted 250 eligible adolescent girls, 230 were analyzed and valid conclusions were drawn. Results: out of total 230 respondents, 73 (31.73%) respondents had correct knowledge about legal age of girl at marriage. Out of total 230 respondents, before intervention only 60 (26.0.8%) of the respondents heard about contraceptive methods, after intervention this percentage increased to 68.69%.Conclusion: After intervention more number of adolescent girls had correct knowledge related to family planning