Abstract

 

Introduction: Nowadays, there are about 1.2 billion around adolescents living the world and one out of five people is

known to be at this age group. Almost 85% of adolescents live in developing countries. It is stated that adolescents utilize

health services less than the other age groups do.

Objective: In this study, utilization of health services of 186 third grade students at an Occupational Training Center (OTC)

was evaluated (participation rate=87.1%).

Findings: The mean age of the students was 18.4 (sd±0.9). Frequency of utilization of check-up services before they started

to work professionally was 22.2% whereas it was 21.1% afterwards. Forty-two percent of the participants were influenced

by the experiences of elder family members when they were ill for the last time. The percent of attendance to a health

instutition was 27.2, whereas the pharmacy attendance was 14.8%. The percent of attendence to a “Social Insurance

Organization Hospital” was 32% and the primary health care unit utilization was found to be 11.4%. In this study, the

usage of check-up services for routine controls was also assessed. 58.4% of the participants stated that they had utilizaed

health services although they did nothave any illness in the last six months. Use of dental services was found to be in the

first rank (27.0%).

Conclusion and recommendations: In this quantitative research, the frequency of health service utilization was thought to

be low. Qualitative studies (eg. focus group discussions) are recommended to be carried out to investigate the underlying

factors of low usage.

 

Key Words: Working adolescent, Health service utilization