Abstract:
Background: Street children are estimated in the millions globally and their rapid increase calls
for an urgent response. Street children have risky sexual practices, which place them at all kinds
of health risks. There is no study done prevalence of sexual and reproductive health services
among street adolescents in the study area.
Objective: The objective of the study was to assess sexual and reproductive health services
utilization and associated factors among street adolescents in West Shoa Zone, Ethiopia, 2023.
Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July 1 to July 30 in
Selected district of West Shoa Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia. A non-probability sampling technique
was used to collect data from a sample of 405 street adolescents in seven randomly chosen
districts. Participants were selected through the use of snowball sampling, which was used for
collecting the necessary data from street adolescents. A pre-tested structured interview
administered questionnaires, were used to collect the data. Descriptive statistics using frequency
and other statistical summary measures were performed to describe the characteristics of youths,
while Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis was carried out to assess the
association between independent variables and dependent variables. Statistical significance was
declared at p-value < 0.05%, and adjusted odds ratio with its 95% confidence interval
Results: A total of 405 study participants participated in the study yielding a response rate of
95.7%.The utilization of sexual and reproductive health services among street adolescents was
23% (95% CI: 19.0, 27.4). Keeping privacy during the consultation (AOR=3.43 (95% CI: 1.66,
7.12)), and having information about sexual and reproductive health services (AOR= 6.63 (95%
CI: 3.52, 12.48)) were significantly associated with the use of sexual and reproductive health
service.
Conclusion and Recommendation: The utilization of sexual and reproductive health services
was low. Being served keeping their privacy and having information, education, and
counseling were significantly associated factors with sexual and reproductive health services
utilization. Therefore, there should be a concerted effort by health facilities, and healthcare
providers to keep the privacy of study participants, and provision information on sexual and
reproductive health services as much as possible.
