title: Role of gynecologists in reproductive education of adolescent girls in Hungary.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to assess whether the socioeconomic characteristics of adolescent girls, their knowledge about cervical cancer screening, and their sexual activity are associated with whether or not they have already visited a gynecologist.
  
  
  METHODS
  A self-administered questionnaire-based study was performed among secondary school girls (n = 589) who participated in professional education provided by a pediatric and adolescent gynecologist. The questionnaire comprised sociodemographic characteristics, sexual activity, knowledge on contraceptive methods, cervical screening and sources of their knowledge. Simple descriptive statistics, χ(2) and one-way-anova tests, multivariate logistic regression analysis and Pearson correlation were applied. All statistical analyses were carried out using spss 17.0 for Windows.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 50.3% of adolescent girls had already had a sexual contact. Half of the sexually active participants had already visited a gynecologist, and most of them did so due to some kind of complaint. The overall knowledge about cervical screening was quite low; higher knowledge was found among those having visited a gynecologist.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Adolescent girls' knowledge on cervical screening was improved by previous visits to a gynecologist. The participation of an expert--a gynecologist--in a comprehensive sexual education program of teenage girls is of high importance in Hungary.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Varga-Tóth
authors.forename: Edit
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Paulik
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003267:Contraception; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D005260:Female; D006176:Gynecology; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence; D012725:Sexual Behavior
keywords: adolescent girls; cervical screening; education; gynecologist