Gebreyesus, Seifu Hagos
Endris, Bilal Shikur
Beyene, Getahun Teka
Farah, Alinoor Mohamed
Elias, Fekadu
Bekele, Hana Nekatebeb
Funding for this research was provided by:
The World Health Organization Ethiopia Country Office
Article History
Received: 9 January 2018
Accepted: 9 January 2019
First Online: 21 January 2019
Ethics approval and consent to participate
: The study protocol was approved by the Ethics committees at the Amhara and Oromia Regional Health Bureaus, Federal Ministry of Health.The surveys were anonymous, so there was minimal or no risk to breaching respondents’ confidentiality. All adolescent girls approached to take part in the study were informed about the voluntary nature of participation and were, likewise, informed that they can choose not to answer any questions they feel disinclined to answer. During the training of interviewers, supervisors and coordinators, emphasis was placed on the importance of obtaining informed consent.Consent to participate: For those aged < 16 years, verbal consent was taken from their parents or guardians on their behalf. For those aged > 16, verbal consent was obtained from themselves. In addition, permission was asked from parents or legal guardians of all adolescent girls involved in this study. The interviewers were made to sign on the consent form thereby verifying and taking responsibility of getting informed consent. We decided to use verbal consent rather than written consent for the reason that written consent involving paper signing is perceived to have legal implications of the responses made during the interview, and this could create bias and non-response during the interviews. These procedures of obtaining verbal consent and assent rather than in written were approved by the ethical committee.
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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