INTRODUCTION:

Adolescents, are young people between the ages of 10 and 19 years, are often thought of as a healthy group. About 30% of India's population is in the adolescent age group of 10-19 years. It is estimated that there are almost 331 million adolescents in India. Adolescents comprise 20% of the total world population, 85% of whom live in developing countries. Furthermore, the adolescent population in developing countries is burgeoning, with the number of urban youth growing a projected 600% between 1970 and 2025⁽¹⁾. For the most part, young people’s problems have been ignored, with little understanding of the potential impact of a generation at risk on the future. Although there is a more health awareness and they constitute a large percentage of the population, have a distinct pattern of health and illness, and are one subset of the population that has experienced little or least improvement in overall health status over the past 40 years. Many have not realized that they are moving in to the adulthood^{. (2)}

Reviews shows that 27% of adolescence get in to a problem of road traffic accidents, 35% of adolescents become addictive to the substances like tobacco, smoking, alcohol, 15% has mental health problems, 23% are suffering from obesity.

Apart from these physical health problems, they are at risk for developing lots of mental health problems. Parents play an important role in influencing the adolescents; they should know the health and behavior pattern of the adolescents. Since nurses are facing so many adolescence with problems, as part of their nursing care, they play a role to educate the parents regarding adolescence health and behavior pattern. If today’s young people need to realize their adult potential. The solutions will be based on understanding the complexities of adolescent cultures, how they experience risk and what factors contribute to their vulnerabilities. These solutions must start from the parents^(3).

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

A descriptive design was adopted for this study. Twenty mothers of adolescents who came to Child Health OPD of CMC Hospital for the treatment of their children who are with health problems were selected by convenient sampling method. Structured interview questionnaire was used to collect the data from the participants. It consists of two parts: Part A and Part B which includes demographic variables (age, sex of the child, educational status of the parents and locality.) and 35 multiple choice questions to assess the knowledge component on general, physiological changes, nutrition, physical activity, habits and psychological aspects. For the correct response one mark has given. For the incorrect response no marks were given. Total score of the instrument was 35. The level of knowledge was graded as below:

Above 75%- adequate, 51-75% -moderately adequate and 50% and below- inadequate knowledge. The investigator explained the purpose of the study to the participants and obtained written consent from them. Descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) and inferential statistics (Chi square) were used to analyze the data using statistical package for social sciences software program (SPSS version 17).

RESULTS:

Table-1 Distribution of sample according to demographic variable (n=20)

Sl.No

Variables

Frequency

Percentage

Age of the child in years

12-14 years

15-16 years

17-19 years

60%

30%

10%

Gender

Male

Female

50%

Educational status

Illiterate

Primary

High school

Higher secondary

Graduate

10%

55%

20%

Locality

Urban

Rural

65%

35%

Table-1 shows the distribution of demographic variables of the parents 60% of their children were between age group of 12-14 years. It was found that 50% were male and 50% were female, 55% had high school education.

30%

Figure 1 Distribution of knowledge of parents regarding adolescence health.

DISCUSSION:

Majority of the parents had adequate knowledge (60%). A survey conducted in 2007 by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 61 per cent of parents of young teens, ages 13-15 yrs had adequate knowledge ^(4). This may be due to literacy rate, media exposure etc. Majority of the parents (75%) had adequate knowledge in each specific aspect of the adolescence health. Moreno, JA, Cervello E and colleagues conducted a study in Cameroon regarding menarche and sexuality in female school adolescents among their mothers. They interviewed 768 mothers of school girl’s ages 9 to 15, and they found 13% had already had sexual intercourse. Although 77% knew condoms could protect against STDs and AIDS, 94-95.3% had no idea how Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS are transmitted^(5).Urban locality (30%) and parents who had older children 12- 14 yrs (45%) had adequate knowledge. Boyd KR, Hrycaiko DW (2004), studied associations between selectedindicators of adolescents’ health related dietary habits(daily intake of candy, soft drinks, fruit and vegetables) andparental socio-economic position (education, social class andincome).

Table – II Association between demographic variables and knowledge (n=20)

Sl.no

Demographic variables

Level of knowledge

p value

Adequate

Moderately adequate

Inadequate

Age of the child

12-14 years

15-16 years

17-19 years

30%

15%

25%

15%

0.002*

Gender

Male

Female

25%

15%

10%

0.056

Education status

Illiterate

Primary education

High school

Higher secondary

Graduate

15%

10%

15%

10%

0.056

Locality

Urban

Rural

45%

20%

10%

0.012*

*p<0.05

There was a significant association (p =0.002) between the age of the child and the parents knowledge; locality and parents knowledge (p = 0.012).

They found that higher levels of parental education,in particular the mother's education, are clearly associatedwith healthier dietary habits among adolescents. This socialpatterning should be recognized in public health interventions⁽⁶⁾

According to National Family Health Survey reports, nutritional disorders such as anemia and obesity are widely prevalent and 14.2% respectively while 56% of adolescent girls are anemic, boys too are falling prey to the disease^(7). Around 30% of adolescent boys suffer from anemia. Alliason KR, Dweyr JJ and Makin done a cross-sectional study involving school-going children from 9 to 15 years and found that the overall prevalence of obesity and overweight to be 11.1% ⁽⁸⁾

There was a significant association between the demographic variables and the level of knowledge. Parents who had older children 12 to 14 yrs (p = 0.002) and parents who were living in urban locality (p = 0.002) adequate knowledge. This is due to in urban locality, they have more awareness. Because they were exposed to media. For the parents who had older children had adequate knowledge. This may be due to taking more interest to know about the child’s behavior as the child grows.

IMPLICATIONS:

· Nursing practice:

Group or individual health education programmes can be conducted for the parents to improve their awareness regarding adolescence health. Prepared booklets with suitable visuals can be used which will help in disseminating proper knowledge and understanding.

· Nursing education:

Syllabi should include a mass health education programme so that the students will actively participate in creating awareness to the parents.

· Nursing research:

More studies have to be done to identify the reasons for misbehavior of the adolescents and steps can be taken to promote their health and reduce the problems.

CONCLUSION:

The purpose of the study was to assess the knowledge regarding adolescence health among the parents of adolescents. It was found the overall knowledge was adequate. The knowledge level can be improved by providing proper awareness regarding adolescent health among their parents. Emphasis can be given more regarding the physiological and psychological aspects of adolescents health.

REFERENCES:

1. World Health Organization The World Health Population Report, Promoting Healthy Life. (2007). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.

2. Davis Victor (2007). Stress in adolescence. Journal of Pediatric Nursing. Vol 28(3).pp 34-36.

3. Jiménez, R. (2004). Motivation, gender equality, discipline behaviors and healthy lifestyles in Spanish students of physical education. Health Action. Vol 32(3). Pp 256-260.

4. Kaiser Family Foundation (2002). Influence of TV on adolescence. Developmental Behavioural Pediatrics, Vol 81(5). Pp 34-40.

5. Moreno, J. A. and Cervello, E. (2005). Physical self-perception in spanish adolescents: effects of gender and involvement in physical activity. Journal of Human Movement Studies, 48, 291-311.

6. Boyd, KR. and Hrycaiko DW, (1997). The effect of a physical activity intervention package on the self-esteem of preadolescent and adolescent females. Adolescence, 32: 127, 693-709.

7. National Family Health Survey II, Key Findings: International Institute of Population Services, Mumbai, India IIPS Press:2008.

8. Alliason KR., Dweyr JJ and Makin S.(1999).Self-efficacy and participation in vigorous physical activity by high school students. Health Education and Behavior, 26 (1): 12-24.

Received on 04.10.2013 Modified on 11.12.2013

Asian J. Nur. Edu. & Research 4(2): April- June 2014; Page 232-234