Seidu, Abdul-Aziz, Kumi-Kyereme, Akwasi, and Darteh, Eugene K.M. (2024) Self-reported sexual coercion among in-school young people with disabilities in Ghana. BMC Public Health, 24. 1223.

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Abstract

Background: Sexual coercion is one of the major public health concerns globally. This is even more worrying among young people with disabilities (YPWDs). This study assessed the prevalence and factors associated with sexual coercion among in-school young people with disabilities in Ghana.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional study design, pre-tested questionnaires were used to collect data from 979 YPWDs in 15 special schools for the visually and hearing impaired in Ghana. Sexual coercion was the outcome variable. Both descriptive (frequencies and percentages) and inferential analysis (binary logistic regression) were conducted.

Results: About 68% reported that they had been sexually coerced at some point in their lifetime. This was higher among males (69.9%) compared to females (66.8%). Those aged 15–19 (72.19%) had the highest prevalence compared to those aged 20–24 (61.74%). YPWDs in Junior High School [JHS] [aOR = 1.722; CI = 1.227,2.417], and those in the coastal zone [aOR = 1.616; CI = 1.068,2.443] had higher odds of being coerced. However, those belonging to the Islamic religion [aOR = 0.266; CI = 0.0764,0.928] and the visually impaired [aOR = 0.477; CI = 0.318,0.716] had lower odds of being coerced compared to those with no religion, and the hearing impaired, respectively.

Conclusion: There is a relatively high prevalence of sexual coercion among in- school YPWDs in Ghana. This is significantly associated with level of education, ecological zone, religion, and the type of disability. This calls for a concerted effort by policy makers such as the Ghana Education Service, Ghana Federation of the Disabled, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to intensify sex education and put in pragmatic steps to halt this serious public health issue.

Item ID:	85232
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1471-2458
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
Date Deposited:	23 Apr 2025 23:48
FoR Codes:	44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4402 Criminology > 440218 Victims @ 30% 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420699 Public health not elsewhere classified @ 70%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2005 Specific population health (excl. Indigenous health) > 200599 Specific population health (excl. Indigenous health) not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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