Author(s)

Kavya P^1*, Sonali Daniel², Shumayla Shumayla³, Rajesh Sinha³, Sunil Mehra⁴

¹Mental Health Department, Mamta-Health Institute for Mother and Child, Delhi, India.
²Chronic Diseases and Adolescent Health Department, Mamta-Health Institute for Mother and Child, Delhi, India.
³Research Department, Mamta-Health Institute for Mother and Child, Delhi, India.
⁴Mamta-Health Institute for Mother and Child, Delhi, India.

Background: India being the country with largest adolescent population in the world, needs a special focus on the health services as the status of an adolescent determines the health status in his/her adulthood. Some of the major issues faced by the adolescents include: mental health problems, early pregnancy and childbirth, (HIV/STI) and other infectious diseases, violence, injuries and malnutrition. The present study aims to understand the effectiveness of peer-led intervention on knowledge, attitude and practices related to sexual reproductive and mental health issues in adolescents among participants and non-participants. The study was carried out to improve the health-seeking behaviour of adolescents on sexual reproductive and mental health issues in low resource setting across four states in India. Methods: The study adopted a cross-sectional survey which was conducted on 400 adolescents from each of the four districts namely Bangalore, Khagaria-Bihar, Khed-Pune and Sahinganj-Jharkhand. A comparative analysis was conducted between the participants and the non-participants of the intervention to understand the effectiveness of the intervention on the KAP related to sexual reproductive and mental health of adolescents. Results: The study shows that the participants from Karnataka and Maharashtra had better knowledge in emergency contraception, HIV awareness, use of contraceptives and consumption of IFA’s than the non-participants; both the participants and the non-participants showed a positive behaviour in help-seeking in case of psychological challenges. Conclusion: The peer-led approach was found to be an effective strategy for learning, sharing and monitoring adolescent sexual reproductive and mental health.

Adolescent Health, Mental Health, Peer-Led Approach, Sexual Reproductive Health

P, K. , Daniel, S. , Shumayla, S. , Sinha, R. and Mehra, S. (2020) Effectiveness of Peer-Led Intervention on KAP Related to Sexual Reproductive and Mental Health Issues among Adolescents in Low Resource Settings India: A Comparative Study among Participants and Non-Participants. Health, 12, 1151-1168. doi: 10.4236/health.2020.129085.