ABSTRACT
Context: After thirty years of ratifying the child rights convention and nineteen years of the Child Rights Act, implementing child rights instruments remains challenging in Nigeria. Healthcare providers are well positioned to change the current paradigm. Aim: To examine the knowledge, perception, and practice of child rights and the influence of demographics among Nigerian doctors and nurses. Materials and methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional online survey was done using nonprobability sampling. Pretested multiple-choice questionnaire was disseminated across Nigeria's six geopolitical zones. Performance was measured on the frequency and ratio scales. Mean scores were compared with 50% and 75% thresholds. Results: A total of 821 practitioners were analyzed (doctors, 49.8%; nurses, 50.2%). Female-to-male ratio was 2:1 (doctors, 1.2:1; nurses, 3.6:1). Overall, knowledge score was 45.1%; both groups of health workers had similar scores. Most knowledgeable were holders of fellowship qualification (53.2%, P = 0.000) and pediatric practitioners (50.6%, P = 0.000). Perception score was 58.4% overall, and performances were also similar in both groups; females and southerners performed better (59.2%, P = 0.014 and 59.6%, P = 0.000, respectively). Practice score was 67.0% overall; nurses performed better (68.3% vs. 65.6%, P = 0.005) and postbasic nurses had the best score (70.9%, P = 0.000). Conclusions: Overall, our respondents' knowledge of child rights was poor. Their performances in perception and practice were good but not sufficient. Even though our findings may not apply to all health workers in Nigeria, we believe teaching child rights at various levels of medical and nursing education will be beneficial. Stakeholder engagements involving medical practitioners are crucial
Subject(s)
Right to Health , Child , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Legislation as TopicABSTRACT
Sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHRs) are the rights of all people regardless of their age, sex and other characteristics to make choices about their own reproductive issues. This study aimed to explore and describe adolescents' perceptions, knowledge and exercises of SRHR and associated factors among going adolescents in Arsi zone, Ethiopia. This study was guided by;explanatory sequential mixed-method study design. Thus, a two-phase data collection approach was adopted. In Phase I, the quantitative data were collected from 800 adolescent (15-19 years) using pre tested and self-administrated questionnaires. In Phase II, a semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data from 12 key informant interviews with teachers and health care providers and 4 focus group discussions with adolescents who were not participated in quantitative phase. The findings from the phases I and II approaches were merged through a comparison of findings side by side. Quantitative data was cleaned and analysed using SPSS 25 while thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. In phase I of 827 total adolescents invited to the study, 800 (96.7%) respondents participated in the study. Overall, less than half (26.1%) had ability to exercises and (45.3%) knowledgeable about SRHRs. In this study, adolescents with 17-19 years (AOR=3.30, 95% CI: 2.17-5. 23), grades 11 to 12 (AOR=1.69, 95% CI: 1. 23-2.35) and knowledge (AOR=1.47, 95%CI: 1.05-2.05) were significantly associated with SRHRs exercises. The research found misperception, limited knowledge and exercises amongst adolescents about SRHRs in secondary schools emphasising the rights-based approach. It is urged to promote educational campaigns to reduce misconceptions and increase knowledge of SRH rights among adolescents