The aim of this study was to evaluate the understanding of reproductive health (RH) among students at Colleges of Education in Nigeria's North East Zone. To achieve this, the study outlined five objectives and posed five research questions. An ex-post facto research design was utilized. The study's population included 54,042 students from twelve Colleges of Education in the North East Zone. A multi-stage sampling approach, incorporating simple random sampling, stratified random sampling, and proportionate sampling techniques, was employed to select participants. A total of 580 respondents, comprising 341 males and 239 females, were chosen for the study.
Data were collected using a researcher-developed questionnaire, which included six sections (A-F) addressing demographic information and knowledge of reproductive health. Out of 580 questionnaires distributed, 554 (95.5%) were completed and returned for analysis. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) IBM version 20. Descriptive statistics (percentages and frequencies) were used to assess demographic characteristics, while mean and standard deviation (SD) were used to answer the research questions. Hypotheses 1-4 were tested using one-tailed sample t-tests, and hypothesis 5 was examined with Chi-square analysis, all at a 0.05 significance level.
The findings indicated that students at the Colleges of Education had a significant understanding of safe motherhood (successful maternal and childbirth outcomes) with a p-value of 0.000 (p < 0.05). They also had significant knowledge about sexually transmitted infections (p = 0.000, p < 0.05). However, the sources of information on reproductive health knowledge were not significant. The study concluded that students' knowledge of safe motherhood, sexually transmitted infections, and family planning methods was adequate. The main sources of reproductive health information included radio (43.7%), doctors (41.9%), and schools, while reproductive health services were primarily accessed through general hospitals (62.6%) and clinics (36.1%).
The study recommended that students be encouraged to apply their knowledge of safe motherhood to minimize pregnancy-related complications through sex education, public lectures, workshops, and seminars organized by the college health departments. It also suggested that knowledge about sexually transmitted infections should be reinforced through enhanced peer-friendly awareness activities to reduce the risk of infections among students.
