Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Knowledge of Women: A Cross- Sectional Study among the women experienced abortion in urban slums, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract

Abstract Background: Women in urban slums were particularly susceptible due to a lack of knowledge about sexual and reproductive health (SRH), and abortion was frequently performed. In this study, reproductive-aged women who have had abortions and lived in urban slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh, are evaluated for their level of SRHR knowledge and its predictors. Methods: We adopted a cross-sectional survey among the reproductive aged women experienced any sorts of abortion from July 2020 to January 2022 living in the UHDSS sites, applying a predefined interviewer assisted survey questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (i.e., mean, standard error, and 95% confidence interval (CI)) for continuous and percentage distribution for categorical variables. Bi-variate analysis was used to look for associations. After checking the assumptions, multinomial regression analysis was used to confirm the determinants with 95% CIs. Results: Total of 338 women were participated (221 spontaneous abortion and 117 induced abortion) with average age of 26.59 ±0.355, first age at marriage 16.69 ±0.173, and marital length of 9.45 ±0.386. Except for the use of emergency contraceptives (32%), many women correctly identified condom effectiveness for preventing pregnancy (89%), STDs and HIV/AIDS prevention (79-80%), and abortion (98%). 34 to 64% of them experienced stigmas attached to sexually explicit items. Few of them knew about abortion complications (9 to 57%), with the exception of bleeding associated with abortion (91.7%). Overall, ¾ women lacked sufficient SRH knowledge, with a mean score of 58.28 (95% CI: 56.70, 59.87), which was slightly higher for women who had spontaneous abortions 58.90 (95% CI: 57.02, 60.78) and lower for women who had induced abortions 57.69 (95% CI: 54.94, 60.45). Women who were older (p <0.05), had a higher education (p <0.01), and received post-abortion family planning counseling (p< 0.001) had adequate SRH knowledge. Conclusion: Our findings can be used in the abortion policies and strategies for vulnerable women and we recommend an intervention of increase awareness and knowledge on SRH is essential for those women to achieve the maternal reproductive health parameters.