Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice of abortion among female patients in Uganda; A case study of Kawempe National Referral Hospital

Abstract

A dissertation submitted to the School of Statistics and Planning in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Statistics of Makerere University October 2023. Abortion has been a major reproductive health problem in Uganda and the world at large. This study focused on the knowledge, attitudes and practice of abortion among female patients at Kawempe referral hospital. Globally. This was a cross sectional study conducted among 100 female students of Kawempe national referral hospital. A binary logistic regression model was used to find out the demographic, socio-economic, knowledge and attitude factors that influence the practice of abortion among female patients. It was found out that 85% of the participants were knowledgeable about abortion and were aware of its risks while 15% had no knowledge about abortion in Kawempe referral hospital. The study found out that majority of the respondents were between the age of 20 and 39, slightly more than half of the respondents were single and also majority had completed tertiary level of education. Furthermore, more than three quarters of the respondents would not recommend someone to practice abortion, it was revealed that 70.6% of them knew about the risks associated with abortion. More than half of the respondents had not practiced family planning before. It was asserted by 74.1% of the respondents that they have never tried to practice abortion. Age of the respondent, marital status of the respondent, and recommend abortion were the significant factors that influence the practice of abortion since their p-values were below the significant level of 0.05. The research emphasizes the need for a more comprehensive exploration of the complex sociocultural and informational factors contributing to abortion decisions. They underscore the importance of providing comprehensive reproductive health services and support, particularly in relation to abortion recommendations and practices within the study population and it goes on to recommend a need to increase access to Sexual Reproductive health services in hospitals to help deal with unintended pregnancies and improve access to safe abortion.