Abstract
Adolescent reproductive health is an important issue due to the high incidence of early marriage, unwanted pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases caused by limited reproductive health knowledge. High school adolescents are in a transitional stage that makes them vulnerable to risk behaviors because of inadequate access to accurate health information, highlighting the need for structured interventions from health workers. Community nurses play a strategic role in providing reproductive health education in schools. This study aimed to analyze the effectiveness of a reproductive health education program delivered by community nurses in improving adolescents’ knowledge. A quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design was conducted at SMA Negeri 9 Padang involving 62 Grade X and XI students selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using a valid and reliable reproductive health knowledge questionnaire administered before and after a four-week educational intervention. Univariate analysis described respondents’ characteristics and knowledge levels, while the Wilcoxon test was used because the data were not normally distributed. The mean knowledge score increased from 58.4 (poor category) before the intervention to 84.7 (good category) afterward, with 88.7% of respondents showing improved knowledge. The Wilcoxon test yielded p=0.000 (p<0.05), indicating a significant difference between pretest and posttest scores. The study concluded that reproductive health education by community nurses effectively improved adolescents’ knowledge and supports integrating reproductive health education into school curricula, UKS activities, and partnerships between community health centers and schools.