SOCIALIZING ADOLESCENT REPORDUCTIVE HEALTH: EFFORTS TO PREVENT EARLY MARRIAGE AND REDUCE UNINTENDED PREGNANCIES AMONG ADOLESCENTS

Abstract

Stunting is a chronic nutritional condition in children with a high incidence in Indonesia, including in Desa Pancakarya, Kecamatan Ajung, Kabupaten Jember, Jawa Timur. This condition is caused by various factors, both from the mother and/or the child's side, which include the age of the mother during pregnancy, maternal and child nutrition, and the low level of maternal knowledge about nutrition and reproductive health. The high rate of early marriage (age ≤ 18 years) in Desa Pancakarya is one of the dominant factors correlated with an increase in the incidence of stunting in children because the nutritional status, reproductive system, and pelvic size of females are still not fully developed and ready to conceive and give birth to children. This community service aims to provide socialization about reproductive health to 9th grade students at SMP Negeri 1 Ajung, Kabupaten Jember. The results of the questionnaire to 39 respondents showed an increase in knowledge from the pre-test (65.87 ± 12.41) to the post-test (78.69 ± 18.57) significantly (p = 0.000) using the Wilcoxon signed test on SPSS. These results indicate that the socialization approach about reproductive health to adolescents has the potential to reduce the possibility of early marriage which is correlated with the incidence of stunting in children in the future.