Research Article - (2019) Volume 10, Issue 10
Received: 10-Oct-2019
Published:
13-Nov-2019
Citation: Yosef T, Daniel A, Nigussie T, Girma Y (2019) Sexual Behaviour among Technical Vocational and Educational Training (TVET) College Students at Mizan-Aman Town, South West Ethiopia, 2018. J AIDS Clin Res 10: 803.
Copyright: © 2019 Yosef T, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Background: Adolescents and youths have an increased probability for risky sexual behaviors because of their developmental stage. Besides, they are risk taker who are more likely to make decision about without adequately considering the consequence.
Objectives: To assess the risky sexual behaviour among TVET college students of Mizan-Aman town, South west Ethiopia, 2018.
Methods: An institutional based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among systematically selected 453 college students at Mizan-Aman TVET college, Ethiopia, April 2018. Data was collected using structured selfadministered questionnaire. The data was entered using EPI-DATA version 4.2.0.0, cleaned and analyzed using SPSS version 20 statistical software for windows. Results was presented using tables, graphs and numerical summery measures like mean and standard deviation (SD).
Results: Of 453 participants who filled the questionnaire, 54.7% (248) were males and 46.4% (210) were females. The mean age of the respondents was 19.95 (± 2 SD) years ranges from 18 to 30 years. Of 453 participants, 39.7% (180) of them were sexually active. The mean age of sexual intercourse was 17.64 (± 2 SD) years. Nearly three-fourth, 73.4% (132) of student’s reason of having sexual intercourse for the first time was falling in love. Out of sexually active students 17.8% (32) of the students have low risky sexual behaviour while 69.4% (125) and 12.8% (23) of them have average risk and high risky sexual behaviour respectively. More than half, 62.2% (112) of the respondents were used condom for their first sexual intercourse and 45.6% (82) were had multiple sexual partners.
Conclusion: This finding shows the public health importance of risky sexual behavior among college students in Ethiopia. So, equipping adolescents with sexual and reproductive health is paramount important to protect them from risky sexual behavior.
Risky sexual behavior; TVET College students; Mizan- Aman
RSB: Risky Sexual Behavior, SD: Standard Deviation, SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, TVET: Technical Vocational and Educational Training
Risky sexual behaviors (RSBs) are an important issue in controlling ill reproductive health out come in all age group in general and adolescent and youth. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): RSB defined as Sexual behaviors leading to unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) include Human immune deficiency virus/Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) [1].
The burden of morbidity and mortality globally due to sexually, genitally and extra-genitally transmitted pathogens affect quality of life. Both oral and anal sexual exposure, involving bacteria, viruses and protozoa, can cause significant morbidity, especially among adolescent and youths [2]. Risky sexual behaviour is the common factor that expose adolescent and young people for miss timed morbidity and mortality. Even if, the current trend of morbidity and mortality in adolescent and young people is decreasing globally. But the problem is remained continued in developing countries. Even in the period between 2011 and 2015, about 6.4 adolescent deaths occurred per 100 population in African [3].
The prevalence of unintended pregnancy rate remains significantly higher in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) than in High income countries (HICs) [4,5]. Unintended pregnancy is the common outcome of risky sexual behaviour. A systematic review and Metaanalysis conducted in Africa showed that prevalence of adolescent pregnancy 18.8% in Africa and 19.3% in Sub-Saharan African region. The prevalence was highest 21.5% in East Africa [6]. Unintended pregnancy was due to unsafe sex practices, which is more prevalent among school adolescents especially in rural areas [7].
HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted disease is common in individuals practicing risky sexual behaviors. Adolescents and youths are particularly vulnerable to reproductive and sexual health needs and are at increased risk for unsafe sexual and reproductive behaviour [8,9]. Risky sexual behaviors are still remaining a problem among adolescents and youths in Ethiopia [10]. Different studies were conducted in Ethiopia and showed that 83.5% and 64.4% having inconsistent condom use and multiple sexual partners respectively among Aksum University students, 20.07% had practiced risky sexual intercourse and 18.7% did not use condom consistently among school youth of Asella Town and Western Ethiopia reveals that 33% youths reported unprotected sex and 37% youths reported two and more lifetime sexual partners [11-13]. In general, regardless government and no government efforts youths behaviour change remains a challenging [14].
If appropriate intervention is given youths can be prevented from ill health of their sexual and reproductive system [15]. Many studies have been conducted in Ethiopia on risky sexual behaviour of young people but none of them used safe sex behavior questionnaire [10,12,16-23]. In order to launch appropriate preventive measures, there is need to establish the profile of level of risky sexual behavior among this population. So, this study was aimed to assess the level of risky sexual behavior among TVET college students at Mizan-Aman town, southwest Ethiopia.
Study design, setting and period
An institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted at Mizan Aman TVET college students from April 01-30/2018, Which is 585 km south west of Addis Ababa, Capital city of Ethiopia. The college teach students in ten departments, with five/four levels for each department. It has total students of 1810 from these about 920 males and 890 females were studied at time of data collection.
Population
The source of population was all regular Mizan-Aman TEVT college students, who are attending their class during the study period. While Study population were randomly selected students who were study at Mizan Aman TVET College during the study period. All regular students who attend Mizan Aman TVET College at time of data collection and age of 18 and above years were included. The students who were less than 18 years of age were excluded.
Sample size determination and sampling technique
Sample size was determined using a single population proportion formula. With input of p = expected proportion of knowledge about Sexual transmitted diseases in chercher, Ethiopia (17.5%), precision level (5%), 95% confidence interval, 10% for non-response compensation and design effect of 2 [24]. The sample size computed was 489.
Where,
n is the sample size.
p is the expected proportion of Knowledge about STI.
d is the margin of error (precision level), Z α/2 is the reliability coefficient (confidence coefficient).
Systematic random sampling technique was used to select 489 regular students. In TVET College there were ten departments with five/four levels for each department. Departments were stratified based on levels (level I-V). From each level proportionally allocated. The potential participants were selected using systematic random sampling.
Data collection instrument and Procedures
Data was collected using structure self-administered questionnaire containing close ended questions. The questionnaire was composed of three sections: socio demographic factor, risky sexual behavior and behavioral factors. The questionnaire was developed by reviewing relevant literature in English; then translate into the local language (Amharic) and back translate into English to check the consistency by an independent translator. To increase the quality of the data, the questionnaire had pre-tested in similar setups (Mizan-Aman Health Science College) before the actual data collection was commenced. Training was given for data collectors and supervisor concerning the objective and process of data collection and discuss the presence of an ambiguous question in the questionnaire.
Study variables
Study variables include risky sexual behaviors, socio-demographic characteristics (age, sex, academic level, residence etc.) and sexual behaviour related questions (alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, watching pornographic films, ever had sexual intercourse, number of sexual partner).
Operational definitions
• Cigarette smoker: A person who smokes cigarette daily whatever the number of cigarettes.
• Alcohol drinker: A person who drinks (beer, local beer or areke, tella or tej) every day or every other day.
• Multiple sexual partners: Having two or more sexual partners.
• Sexually active: A study subject who has had at least one sexual intercourse prior to the study.
Data processing and analysis
Data collected were entered into Epi Data version 4.2.0.0, cleaned and analyzed using SPSS version 20 software for windows. Results was presented using tables, graphs and numerical summery measures like mean and standard deviation (SD).
Socio demographic characteristics of the students
A total of 453 students responded to the questionnaire, which yields a response rate of 95.2%. Of which, 53.6% (243) of the respondents were males and 46.4% (210) were females. The mean age with standard deviation (SD) of the respondents was 19.95 (± 2SD) years. More the two thirds of students live with their parents. More than half, 57.6% (261) were from urban origin (Table 1).
| Characteristics | Category | Frequency | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sex | Male | 243 | 53.6 |
| Female | 210 | 46.4 | |
| Age | =19 years | 217 | 47.9 |
| >19 years | 236 | 52.1 | |
| Religion | Orthodox | 248 | 54.7 |
| Protestant | 144 | 31.8 | |
| Muslim | 61 | 13.5 | |
| Marital status | Single | 399 | 88.1 |
| Married | 46 | 10.2 | |
| Divorced/Widowed | 8 | 1.7 | |
| Residence | Rural | 192 | 42.4 |
| Urban | 261 | 57.6 | |
| Year of the study | First year | 51 | 11.3 |
| Second year | 98 | 21.6 | |
| Third year | 180 | 39.7 | |
| Fourth year | 124 | 27.4 |
Sexual behaviour of the respondent
Of total study participants, 39.7% (180) of them had ever had sexual intercourse. Among sexually active students two third of them were males. The mean age of sexual intercourse was 17.64 (± 2 SD) years. Nearly three-fourth, 73.4% (132) of student’s reason of having sexual intercourse for the first time was falling in love. More than half, 62.2% (112) of the respondents were used condom for their first sexual intercourse and 45.6% (82) were had multiple sexual partners (Table 2).
| Variables | Category | Frequency | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sexually active | Yes | 180 | 39.7 |
| No | 273 | 60.3 | |
| Relation of first sexual partner | Boy/Girl friend | 114 | 63.3 |
| Husband | 30 | 17.7 | |
| Unknown person | 36 | 20 | |
| Reason of first sexual intercourse | Fall in love | 132 | 73.4 |
| Got married | 24 | 13.3 | |
| Raped | 5 | 2.8 | |
| To get money | 4 | 2.2 | |
| Peer pressure | 8 | 4.4 | |
| Was drunk | 7 | 3.9 | |
| Used condom for first sexual intercourse | Yes | 112 | 62.2 |
| No | 68 | 37.8 | |
| History of induced abortion | Yes | 10 | 12.8 |
| No | 68 | 87.2 |
Behavioral characteristics.
From interviewed students, 23.6% (107) had history of alcohol drinking while about 10.4% (47) of them had history cigarette smoking. Around one-fifth of the students, 19.9% (90) were had history of Drug use (chat, hashish). From interviewed students, 38% (172) of them had history of watching pornographic films while 48.9% (89) of sexually active students had history watching pornographic films (Table 3).
| Variables | Category | Frequency | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cigarette smoking | Yes | 47 | 10.4 |
| No | 406 | 89.6 | |
| Drinking alcohol | Yes | 107 | 23.6 |
| No | 346 | 76.4 | |
| Drug use (chat, hashish) | Yes | 90 | 19.9 |
| No | 363 | 80.1 | |
| Watching pornography | Yes | 172 | 38 |
| No | 281 | 62 |
Risky sexual behaviours
According to SSBQ, 17.8% (32) of the students have low risk sexual behavior while 69.4% (125) and 12.8% (23) of them were had average risk and high-risk sexual behavior respectively (Figure 1).
Figure 1. The prevalence of risky sexual behavior among students of Mizan-Aman TVET College May 2018.
The aim of the study was assessing the risky sexual behaviour among TVET College students of Mizan-Aman town, south west Ethiopia. Out of 453 students, 39.7% (180) of them were eligible for analysis because of their sexual activity. From sexually active students, 17.8% (32) of the students have low risk sexual behavior while 69.4% (125) had average risk sexual behavior and 12.8% (23) of students had high risk sexual behavior. The magnitude of risky sexual behavior was found to be high. This could be due to the high coffee cultivation/production activity done in the study area, Hugh numbers of laborers are gathered for work. As a result, female students are highly engaged in risky sexual behavior for the sake of earning money to fulfill their needs. Besides, since most of the students at college level are live far from their families, they become highly engage in risky sexual behaviors due to a sense of independence from restrictions and parental impact. This study was somewhat closer to a study conducted among university students in Bangkok Thailand and revealed that 11.4% had a low risk behavior, 73.5% had an average risk behavior and 15.2% had a high-risk behavior [25]. But it is lower than study conducted among Youth in Chamwino District, Central Tanzania showed that 31.8% were engaged in high risk sexual behavior [26].
In this study, 39.7% (180) of the students were sexually active. This study was in line with the study conducted among adolescents in rural Tanzania 40.6% sexually active [7]. It was lower than 70.53% were sexually experienced (Sexually active) at Jigjiga university undergraduate students, 60% among undergraduate students of Aksum university [11,27]. The variation observed compared to other studies could be due to the differences in sample size, operational definition used and the methodology in general. Besides, it might be due to the difference in the lifestyle of students’ in university and college. The age of university students also higher than college students and this make university students to expose more to sexual activity than college students [28].
In this study the mean age of sexual intercourse was 17.64 (± 2.01 SD) years. This finding is somewhat closer to the study conducted in Tanzania secondary school adolescent students in which showed that mean age 17.2 (± 1.8 SD) years. This is could be due to the sense of independence from family restriction and the need to compete among female students to fulfill their basic needs by engaging early sexual activity to get money. This finding shows the public health importance of risky sexual behavior among college students in Ethiopia. So, equipping adolescents with sexual and reproductive health is paramount important to protect them from risky sexual behavior.
Since, the prevalence of risky sexual behaviour was determined by their response, social desirability bias may affect its magnitude.
Ethical clearance and permission letters were obtained from Mizan- Tepi University-Institutional Review Board (MTU-IRB). Permission was obtained from Mizan-Aman TVET College. All study participants were informed about the purpose of the study, their right to deny participation, anonymity, and confidentiality of the information. Written informed consent was also obtained before participation in the study.
We would like to thank all study participants and academic and administrator staffs at Mizan-Aman Technical Vocational and Educational Training who gave us full collaboration during the study.
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