AWARENESS, KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICES TOWARDS SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

Sexual and reproductive health matters are still taboo because it is sensitive to be discussed publicly as it opposed the norms of Malaysian people, especially among high school students. This study sought to investigate the awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards sexual and reproductive health among high school students between the ages of 13 to 17 years old in Petaling Perdana district in Selangor, Malaysia. A cross-sectional survey study was conducted among 382 secondary school students using a self-administered validated questionnaire. Descriptive and MANOVA analyses were used to analyse the data. The results showed that the level of awareness, knowledge, attitude, and practices towards sexual and reproductive health was high among all secondary school students. The MANOVA analysis yielded significant differences towards practices on gender F (1, 380) = 16.035, p < .001, with males (M = 1.051) scoring higher than females (M = .661), and level of education F (4, 377) = 7.202, p < .001, with Form 5 students (M = 1.172) having the highest score. The study concluded that males had better sexual practices than females and students with a higher level of education have better understanding and practices towards their sexual and reproductive health.