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Knowledge and Perception of Emergency Contraceptives Among Adolescent Girls in Imo State, Nigeria

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Abstract

Unintended teenage pregnancies are associated with several negative outcomes, which include unsafe abortion, school dropout and emotional distress. Contraceptives, especially emergency contraceptives, which offer a second chance of preventing an unplanned pregnancy after unprotected intercourse, may be useful in reducing teenage pregnancies. There have been several studies on the assessment of the level of knowledge and usage of emergency contraception among adolescents. This study focused on comparing the knowledge and perception of emergency contraceptives among female adolescents in co-educational secondary schools and girls-only schools. The study utilized mixed methods to examine knowledge and perception of emergency contraceptives among adolescent girls in Imo State, Nigeria. Systematic and simple random sampling techniques were used to pick respondents from the purposively selected schools in Imo State. Only 14.5% of the respondents had good knowledge of emergency contraceptives even though 52.8% of the sample had heard of them. In the girls-only schools, 19.4% of the respondents had good knowledge of emergency contraceptives, compared with 9.2% of the respondents in co-educational schools who had such knowledge. Additionally, only 25% of the respondents in all had ever used emergency contraceptives. All the respondents had the notion that emergency contraceptives might cause female infertility. The schools had almost similar perceptions about emergency contraceptives. Therefore, sex education, specifically for each gender, is recommended. Also, awareness programs on the use of emergency contraceptives should be intensified among adolescents.

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Funding

There was no funding from any sources for this study. The authors provided the funds for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Nigeria

    Ogadimma Arisukwu, Chisaa Onyekachi Igbolekwu & Eyitayo Oyeyipo

  2. Department of Public Health, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

    Ifunaya Efugha

  3. Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

    Joseph Nkemakolam Nwogu

  4. Department of Mass Communication, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Nigeria

    Ngozi O. Osueke

Authors
  1. Ogadimma Arisukwu
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  2. Chisaa Onyekachi Igbolekwu
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  3. Ifunaya Efugha
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  4. Joseph Nkemakolam Nwogu
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  5. Ngozi O. Osueke
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  6. Eyitayo Oyeyipo
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Correspondence to Chisaa Onyekachi Igbolekwu.

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Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Specifically, ethical approval for this study was obtained from University of Ibadan/University College Hospital, Ibadan Ethical Review Committee and Imo state Ministry of Education. Permission was sought from the principal of the chosen schools before commencement of data collection. Assent was gotten from all respondents with a reassurance of the anonymity and confidentiality of the research.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Arisukwu, O., Igbolekwu, C.O., Efugha, I. et al. Knowledge and Perception of Emergency Contraceptives Among Adolescent Girls in Imo State, Nigeria. Sexuality & Culture 24, 273–290 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-019-09639-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-019-09639-x

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