Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Emergency Contraceptive and Associated Factors among Ambo Preparatory School Students, Oromia Regional State, West Ethiopia

Abstract

Emergency contraception (EC) is a type of contraception that helps prevent unwanted pregnancy after unprotected intercourse and its complications. Adolescents are frequently at greater risk of pregnancy due to various behavioralfactors. In developing countries including Ethiopia, unplanned pregnancy remains high among adolescents and young adults despite the availability of EC. The study was aimed to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of ECs and factors affecting them among female students of Ambo preparatory school.An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from January 1 to February 15, 2015. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were performed using SPSS software. During the survey, 27.7%, 18.8%, 93.7%, 78.5% and 34.9% of the respondentshad ever had sex in thepast, been pregnant, knew about contraceptives,agreed on its benefits and had ever used it respectively. Age of the respondents (AOR=2.65, P<0.05)and sexual experience (AOR=0.34, P<0.05) were the independent predictors of EC.Significant number of students faced unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion. However, the knowledge and practice of EC was very low. Hence, there is a need to raise awareness about EC as an option with other contraception methods and revitalizing of the family life skill education program in schools and universities.

Keywords: Emergency contraceptives, Knowledge, attitude and practice