Research Article
Bisrat Zeleke Shiferaw, Bosena
Abstract
Background: Emergency contraception is a type of modern contraception which is used after unprotected sexual intercourse, following sexual abuse, misuse of regular contraception or non-use of contraception. University students fall under sexually active age group and form a high-risk group for unintended pregnancy because a large percentage of them engage in sporadic pre- marital sex, which could be prevented by using emergency contraception. Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of emergency contraceptives among female students in Mizan-Tepi University, South West Ethiopia. Methods: For the study, a cross-sectional, Institution based study was conducted from March 10-30, 2014. A multistage sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Data were cleaned, coded and entered in to Epi-data 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 20:-00. Logistic regression was used to identify the association between variables and emergency contraceptive knowledge, attitude and practice. Result: Of the total, respondents, 188(38.4%) of them were sexually active, only 24.1% had good knowledge about emergency contraceptives, 229(46.8%) of the students had favorable attitude towards it and among sexually active participants, only 68(36.2%) had used emergency contraceptive methods. Conclusion: The study shows lack of awareness, knowledge and utilization of emergency contraceptives among Mizan-Tepi University female students. Therefore, designing specific strategies to enhance emergency contraceptive utilization by increasing female students’ level of awareness on emergency contraceptive is recommended.