Vathsala, Sadan (2008) Effectiveness of Adolescent Family Life Education (AFLE) Program on Adolescent Girls’ Knowledge, Attitude and Practice in a Rural Community of Vellore District, Tamilnadu, South India. Doctoral thesis, The Tamilnadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, Chennai.
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Abstract
The study was conducted for a period of one year from September, 2006 to August, 2007 in a rural community adopted by the Christian Medical College, Vellore served by the College of Nursing Community Health Program (CONCH). The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of Adolescent Family Life Education (AFLE) program on adolescent girls’ knowledge, attitude and practice. Conceptual framework of this study was adopted from Health Promotion Model by Pender, Murgaugh and Parsons (2002). The first objective of the study was to develop an instrument to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of rural adolescent girls about selected aspects of family life. The instrument was developed by the investigator from the literature review as well as by conducting six focus group interviews in one of the CONCH program villages. The developed instrument was translated from English to Tamil and was back translated by two different experts. Content validity of the instrument was determined by getting the opinion from ten experts. The Content Validity Index (CVI) of the instrument was 0.89. The reliability of the translated Tamil version of the instrument was found to be 0.89 which indicated high inter item reliability. The intervention used was the AFLE program which was developed by the investigator. The CVI of the AFLE program was 0.93. The pretest and the AFLE program were conducted by the investigator. In order to avoid the observer bias, the posttest was conducted by an evaluator trained by the investigator. The interrater reliability was found to be 0.93. A pilot study was conducted to assess the feasibility of the study and necessary modifications were made. Rural unmarried adolescent girls in the age group of 13-19 years were included in this experimental study. The CONCH villages were matched and made into pairs based on specific characteristics such as geographical location in terms of roadside or interior villages, total population, adolescent population of the villages, and educational, recreational, health and communication facilities available within the villages. From among 16 villages, 8 villages had all the above characteristics and they were clubbed into four pairs. The four pairs of villages were then grouped into two, four villages in each group. The two groups of villages were allocated randomly into experimental and control group by lot method. From this sample frame of control and experimental group subjects, 150 adolescent girls were allocated as study subjects in the control group and another 150 girls in the experimental group using systematic random sampling method. One girl in the experimental group got married during the study period and she was excluded from the study and so in the experimental group there were only 149 subjects. The pretest was conducted by the investigator to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of adolescent girls about family life using a structured interview schedule both in the control and experimental group. The Adolescent Family Life education Program (AFLE) was conducted the experimental group subjects by the investigator. After a gap of two months, posttest was done for both control and experimental group by an evaluator trained by the investigator. The collected data were arranged and analysed using the SPSS-PC Computer program (11 version). Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation were used to describe the demographic, socio-demographic and personal characteristics of the study subjects and their parents. Chi square was used to find the equivalency of characteristics of adolescent girls and their parents in both the groups. The paired ‘t’ test was used to find the difference in mean scores during pretest and posttest within the control and within the experimental group. The independent ‘t’ test was used to find the difference in mean scores during pretest and posttest between control and experimental group. Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was used to find the relationship between knowledge, attitude and practice of adolescent girls about family life. Chi square was used to determine the association between knowledge and attitude, knowledge and practice, attitude and practice and the selected socio-demographic and personal characteristics of adolescent girls as well as the socio-demographic characteristics of their parents. CONCLUSION: The present study had shown that the Adolescent Family Life Education program was effective in terms of increasing the knowledge, attitude and practice of rural adolescent girls about family life and thereby promote the health of adolescent girls. Basic information on family life is important for adolescents. The findings of the study were consistent with the literature and have strong support from studies conducted throughout the world. However South Indian studies were found to be scarce in the literature especially the studies done in rural areas. AFLE may be the only place where adolescents can learn accurate information about family life and can practice the skills necessary to maintain good sexual and reproductive health with a positive attitude. Healthy adolescents promote the health of women as they become mothers which in turn lead to a healthy new generation as they reproduce their children. There is a need for community health nurses to take active part in preparing the adolescent girls for family life. If the girls are prepared with adequate knowledge about family life, they will develop a positive attitude to cope with the pubertal changes which in turn helps them develop a healthy attitude towards family life. Thus the adolescents adopt safe and healthy sexual and reproductive practices during adolescence. The community health nurse have a pivotal role and they can make a difference in providing adolescent family life education and can make the adolescent health care services accessible and worthwhile for the adolescent population.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Effectiveness, Adolescent Family Life Education (AFLE) Program, Adolescent Girls’ Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Rural Community, Vellore District, Tamilnadu, South India. |
| Subjects: | NURSING > Community Health Nursing |
| Depositing User: | Devi S |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Jun 2017 10:23 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Sep 2022 12:17 |
| URI: | http://repository-tnmgrmu.ac.in/id/eprint/194 |
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