Effectiveness of multipronged approach on knowledge, attitude and health risk behavior among adolescents of pre university colleges of Udupi district.

The objectives of the study are to assess the health risk behavior among adolescents,explore the factors influencing health risk behavior among adolescents, find the effectiveness of multipronged approach on knowledge, attitude on  youth risk behavior, & health risk behavior of adolescents.

The purpose of the study is toidentify the knowledge, attitude and health risk behavior among the adolescents.This will help the investigator to identify the need/ problems with regard tohealth risk behavior among adolescents in the early stage. Hence the findings will be utilizedto assist the adolescents to overcome the risk behavior, which has a greaterimpact on their health and future life. The multiprongedapproach will be implemented in the colleges identified with higher percentage (minimum10% prevalence) of health risk behavior among adolescents. The outcome of the multiprongedapproach will be evaluated on improving the knowledge of youth risk behavior,improved score on attitude towards youth risk behavior and improved practicesrelated to health risk behavior which in turn will contribute to have healthyand productive adolescents.

The hypothesis of the study are,

H 1: There will be a significant difference in the mean pretest and posttest knowledge scores of adolescents in the intervention group. H2:  There will be a significant difference between the mean posttest knowledge scores of adolescents in the intervention &control group. H3: There will be a significant difference in the mean pretest and posttest attitude scores of adolescents in the intervention group. H4:  There will be a significant difference between the mean posttest attitude scores of adolescents in the intervention &control group. H5: There will be a significant difference in the pretest and posttest health risk behavior of adolescents in the intervention group. H6:  There will be a significant difference in the health risk behavior of adolescents between intervention &control group.

 Multistage cluster sampling technique will be used for the Phase I of the study. Among six thaluks under Udupi districts 16 colleges will be selected by lottery method. For the phase I, after obtaining the administrative permission, the content of the informed consent form and participant information sheet will be explained to the students. The subject information sheet, informed consent and the assent will be sent home with the students to get the permission from the parents for the participation in the study.The next day the students will be asked to bring the signed assent and informed consent form.  The following research tools will be administered in the college as per the convenience of the school authority; Tool1: Demographic Proforma, Tool2: Youth Risk Behaviour assessment questionnaire. After the data collection the study participants will be encouraged to express their issues in detail in Tool 3(Semi structured tool to explore the factors) and put it in the anonymous students friendly box on the next day which will be kept in the college by the investigator. In the Phase II, based on factors explored and youth risk behaviour, multipronged intervention package will be modified if required and validated. Based on the sample size calculation and the inclusion criteria out of sixteen colleges, six colleges will be allocated into experimental and control group. For both the groups the pre-test will be carried out by administering the Tool4: Structured knowledge questionnaire on Youth Risk Behaviour and Tool 5: Rating scale to assess the attitude on health risk behaviour to assess the knowledge and attitude on youth risk behaviour among the adolescents. For the phase II, cluster (colleges) of adolescents meeting the inclusion criteria will be allocated into experimental and control group. Multipronged approachrefers to intervention program which includes awareness program on youth risk behavior & its impact, awareness program for the teachers,facilitation for the health seeking behavior, assistance and guidance for the counselling services for the needy adolescents.The effectiveness of the multipronged  approach will be assessed in terms of improvement in post-test mean scores on knowledge and attitude and improvement in health risk behaviour. The analysis of the data will be done based on the objectives of the study. Data will be analysed using SPSS Software. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage, inferential statistics such as Pearson correlations and multivariate analysis will be used. The demographic variables and youth risk behaviour  in frequency and percentage, knowledge and attitude in mean, standard deviation and frequency percentage, Effectiveness in terms of mean, standard deviation, paired and independent t test and Repeated measure ANOVA.