ORIGINAL ARTICLE doi: 10.1111/j.1471-6712.2009.00723.x Youth-friendly reproductive health services in Jordan from the perspective of the youth: a descriptive qualitative study Inaam Khalaf RN, PhD (Associate Professor and Dean) 1 , Fathieh Abu Moghli RN, PhD (Associate Professor and Department Chair) 2 and Erika Sivarajan Froelicher RN, PhD, FAAN (Professor, Visiting Professor) 3,4 1 Faculty of Nursing, University of Jordan; Amman, Jordan, 2 Clinical Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, University of Jordan; Amman, Jordan, 3 Department of Physiological Nursing, School of Nursing; and Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA and 4 Faculty of Nursing, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan Scand J Caring Sci; 2009 Youth-friendly reproductive health services in Jordan from the perspective of the youth: a descriptive quali- tative study Purpose: This study aims at describing the needs for reproductive health services among Jordanian youth, identifying problems youth encounter when using reproductive health services, and identifying youths’ perceptions of the characteristics of youth-friendly reproductive health services. Methods: A qualitative study using focus groups was con- ducted on a convenience sample of 60 young men (n = 33) and women (n = 27) (age 12–18 years) selected from the three regions of Jordan. The focus groups were audio taped, and content analysis was used to analyse the data. Results: The results revealed that the participants’ knowl- edge about aspects of reproductive health was limited or inadequate. The participants indicated their need for reproductive health information and quality services. The major barriers to using reproductive health services were unpleasant facilities, unprofessional conduct and ill- informed professionals. Youth expressed many ideas about how services could be improved to be more ‘youth friendly’. Conclusions: The findings of this study can be useful to health services planners and healthcare providers to improve services and start youth-friendly reproductive health services in Jordan and to develop educational pro- grammes that may improve healthcare professionals’ knowledge and attitudes and advance their interpersonal skills for working with youth. Keywords: qualitative, reproductive health, family planning, health education, adolescents, youth, health services, Jordan. Submitted XX Xxxxxxxx 200x, Accepted XX Xxxxxxxx 200x Introduction The world currently has its largest generation of youth ever, with over a billion young people between the ages of 10 and 19 years, most of whom live in developing coun- tries (1). Most youth successfully make the transition to adulthood. Many, however, experience problems that threaten their current and future health status. Particularly in the developing world, many suffer disproportionately from negative reproductive health outcomes that often have serious long-term consequences (2). Few have the opportunity to receive professional counselling or other assistance for their social, psychological, and develop- mental problems because of lack of specialized health services for this age group (3). Jordan, a low middle-income country with approxi- mately 5.4 million people and a per capita income of $2309, is rapidly integrating into the global economy. Jordan, as with other nations from the Middle East/North Africa region, is burdened by increasing rates of non- communicable diseases (4). Yet, it is classified as a low prevalence country in regard to HIV/AIDS epidemic (5). Jordan’s population is young, with 50% below the age of 25 years and a population growth rate of 2.3% per year (4). Young people aged 12–30 years constitute 40% of the population of Jordan, approximately 2.2 million in num- ber (6–8). Focus on the high percentage of young people in the population has tended to sideline other demographic trends with important implications for young people. These include the large recent rise in the average age at marriage for both sexes (9). The legal age at marriage for Correspondance to: Dr Inaam Khalaf, Faculty of Nursing, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan. E-mail: khalaf12@yahoo.com, khalafd@ju.edu.jo Ó 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation Ó 2009 Nordic College of Caring Science 1