KNOWLEDGE, PERCEPTION AND UTILIZATION OF YOUTH FRIENDLY CENTRE AMONG UNDERGRADUATES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, NIGERIA

Abstract

Youth-Friendly Services (YFS) have been identified as one of the most sensitive and effective ways of delivering reproductive health services to young people. Despite the establishment of Youth-Friendly Centres (YFC) in some strategic places in Nigeria including Oyo State, risky sexual behaviours with their attendant consequences such as HIV infection, unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortion are still prevalent. Anecdotal reports revealed that most students of the University of lbadan (UI) are not aware of the YFC in UI campus. Therefore, this study was designed to assess the knowledge, perception and utilisation of the YFC among undergraduates of the University of lbadan, Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted using a four-stage random sampling technique to select 608 consenting respondents from 10 undergraduate halls, blocks and rooms. A validated, semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on socio-demographics, knowledge, perception and utilisation of services offered at the UI YFC. A 15-point scale was categorised as ≤7, >7-10 and > 10 for poor, fair and good knowledge respectively. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, t-test and Chi-square test at p=0.05. Respondents' age was 21.0±2.5 years, 55.3% were males and 99.2% were single. Majority (70.4%) had ever heard of U.I. YFC and their sources of information included friends (50.0%) and orientation programme for fresh students (44.0%). Respondents' knowledge score on the YFC was 5.3±4.6. Some 45.6% of respondents had poor knowledge of the services offered at the YFC. Some of the respondents did not know that the YFC provides free condom (75.0%) and HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) (45.6%). The perception of the respondents about the YFC included views that the location is not noticeable (58.9%) and not easily accessible (53.2%). Among the respondents that were aware of the UI YFC, only 41.6% and 34.6% had ever visited and used the centre, respectively. Respondents' reported reasons for use included recreational activities (59.2%), reading (55.1%) and health talk relating to HIV/AlDS (38.1%). Factors perceived to be militating against the use of the YFC were lack of awareness of the centre by many students (85.6%), inadequate knowledge of the services provided (83.7%) and distance from the hostel (51.7%). The knowledge score for males and females was 5.5±4.8 and 5.1±4.5, respectively. Significantly, more males (22.9%) than females (11.7%) had ever used the YFC. Despite the fact that most of the undergraduates of the University of Ibadan were aware of the Youth-Friendly Centre, their level of knowledge of the services provided was poor and its utilisation was low. Public enlightenment on the services provided in the Youth-Friendly Centre and health education intervention are advocated to address the current challenges.