Peer Educator and Adolescent Reproduction Health Education

Abstract

One of the present important development issues was reproductive health. The reproductive health began at adolescents and it become primary concern. Additionally, labile condition, less understanding of the right reproductive health and the taboo of sex caused reproduction deviations such as premarital sex, abortion and HIV/AIDS. However, there were many reproduction information that were easily accessed by adolescents, but  parents could not play maximal role in the reproduction health education because they were lack of the knowledge of the reproduction health in addition to the existing social construct that considered sexuality as taboo. Peer educator approach in the adolescent reproductive health education was chosen because peers played an important role in transferring the information of the reproduction health. The effectiveness of the peer education approach in the program PIK-KRR(Pusat Information dan Konseling Kesehatan Reproduksi Remaja) became the entry point in the adolescent reproduction health education.

This research uses qualitative method and was conducted in “Demarko” Senior High School. The informants were selected using purposive sampling except those in selected using snowball sampling. The data was collected using participant observation and in-depth interview for descriptive analysis.

The adolescent reproduction health education was conducted through Pusat Information dan Konseling Kesehatan Reproduksi Remaja (PIK-KRR) program and the peer educator as the primary actor. The PIK-KRR of “Demarko” Senior High School is referred to as “Subur”. Though it was controversial at the beginning, the PIK-KRR “Subur” obtains the predicate “Tegar” representing the highest level in the management of the PIK-KRR. However, in the first year the management of the PIK-KRR managed to organize all of the programmed activities and won First Champion of PIK-KRR at provincial level.

In the next operation, it was proven that the performance of the peer educators in the PIK-KRR “Subur” was decreased because the lack of communication, low intensity, gains less support, and lack of appreciation of the school and the low motivation from the teachers. Some students in the implementation of the PIK-KRR in “Demarko” Senior High School pursued their own interests. The articulation of the actors blurred from the objective of the reproduction health education that the program did not go effectively.

Keywords: adolescents, reproduction health education, peer educators and effectiveness.