Female college students' knowledge, attitude and practice towards sex and emergency contraceptives

Abstract

Background- At the local, regional, national and global levels, unsafe abortion takes a tremendous toll on girls, women, families, communities, health systems and nations. An estimated 46 million induced abortions are performed annually with 78,000 deaths globally each year. In Ethiopia, unsafe abortion accounts for nearly 60% of all gynaecological admissions and almost 30.0% of all obstetric admission, about 22-54% of direct obstetric deaths are due to unsafe abortion. EC is increasingly regarded as a means to reduce abortion rates Objective – The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of female college students’ towards sex and emergency contraceptives so as to prevent unintended pregnancy. Methods – A descriptive cross sectional survey was conducted among 352 sampled female college students of Dessie, Ethiopia from June 4 to June 5/2012. Selfadministered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data was entered into a computer using Microsoft Excel 2007 and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 statistical software and Binary logistic regression analyses are used to measure the associations. Result- The age of students ranged from 18 to 25 years. Of the total respondents 36.6% ever had sexual experience, 53.3% know at least one regular modern contraceptive method, 69.9% heard about emergency contraceptives (EC) but, only 33.9 % had good knowledge about EC and 15.4% of them had ever used it. Conclusion & recommendation- Less than fifty percent of the respondents were knowledgeable about EC. The correct knowledge of the method such as the time limit is lacking for most of the students. Information, education & communication to increase awareness and knowledge about emergency contraceptive is important. Contraception information sessions should address; full details how the EC works and full details of how the contraceptives should be taken