Communication between Mother-Adolescent Daughter about Sexual and Reproductive Health: A Cross Sectional Study at Rangpur, Bangladesh

The aim of the study was to examine the level of communication between mother-adolescent daughter regarding sexual and reproductive health in Rangpur Division of Bangladesh. A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted among four high school students attending at class 9 and class 10 in Rangpur Division. The researchers utilized Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory as theoretical framework, purposive and random sampling as sampling strategy in the study. Using a standardized and self-administered questionnaire, information was collected. Microsoft (MS) Excel and SPSS v. 25 were used to analyze the collected data. More than one-third of the students (33.80%) had a poor communication status with mother regarding reproductive health issues. Other findings include: 77.78% students had a regular discussion with their mothers, 57.41% mentioned a few contents had been covered in the discussion, and 36.11% students had been experienced with one-sided interaction about this.The subjects of mother-daughter interaction were often limited to issues involving the menstrual cycle. Mothers were the principal source of reproductive health information and the first point of communication after the period. The subjects covered in the communication on mother-to-girl reproductive health were limited to period-related queries but the overall communications status between teens and their moms on the reproductive health problem was high. It is crucial to improve sexual and reproductive health/wellness education programs by integrating them into textbooks and implementing behavioral change communication (BCC) elements.