Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Unwanted pregnancy followed by unsafe abortion is one of the major worldwide health problems,
which has many negative consequences on the health and well-being of women. Information about women’s
knowledge, attitude and practice of emergency contraceptives plays a major role in the reduction of unwanted
pregnancy; however, there are no studies about this issue in the study area. This study assessed Adama University
female students’ knowledge, attitude and practice of emergency contraceptives.
METHOD: A cross-sectional study design was employed from February 1 to 30/2009, on 660 regular
undergraduate female students of Adama University. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS for windows
version 16.0. Logistic regression was used to identify the association between variables and emergency
contraceptive knowledge, attitude and practice. P-value less than 0.05 at 95% CI was taken for statistical
significance.
RESULTS: Of the total, 660 respondents, 194(29.4%) were sexually active, 63(9.4%) had history of pregnancy and
49(7.4%) had history of abortion. About 309 (46.8%) of the students had heard about emergency contraceptives and
from those who heard emergency contraceptives, 27.2% had good knowledge. Majority, four hundred fifteen
(62.9%) of the students had positive attitude towards it. However, only 31(4.7%) had used emergency contraceptive
methods.
CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated lack of awareness, knowledge and utilization of emergency
contraceptives among Adama University female students. Hence behavioral change strategies should be considered
by responsible bodies to improve knowledge and bring attitudinal change on use of emergency contraception.
