Knowledge, attitudes and practices towards contraceptive methods among Makerere university undergraduate students

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Introduction Despite the many forms of modern and traditional contraceptive methods available today and the mass awareness campaigns aimed at educating university students on contraception and its benefits, the rate of uptake and use of contraceptives is still low among these students. Among those that use contraceptives, the majority are inconsistent in their use. This, therefore, calls for more research to be carried out, to find the loopholes and hence device strategic interventions aimed at increasing uptake, correct and consistent use of contraceptives among university students. Objective The objective of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices towards contraceptives among undergraduates at Makerere university. Methodology A cross-sectional study was conducted at a selected hostel in Kikumi-kikumi where the majority of Makerere University students stay. A pre-designed semi-structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from undergraduate students of age 18-30 that stayed in the hostels. The study used the modified Kish-Leslie formula (Leslie Kish, 1965) for cross-sectional studies, and from the method, the sample size was 248.5 students. A systematic random sampling procedure was used to obtain the respondents. The data were analyzed using STATA and results were obtained. Results A total of 248 students were enrolled in the study and (100%) (248/248) had sufficient knowledge of contraceptives. The most common sources of information were friends (36.4%) (95/261) and social media (19.9%) (52/261) with the most commonly known methods being condoms (179/248) (22.9%), oral pills (113/248) (14.5%) and emergency contraceptive pills (110/248) (14.1The majority of the students (93.55%) (232/248) had never attended training on the use of contraceptives. Most of the students (69.76%) had a good attitude toward the use of contraceptives and 61.29% of the students supported the provision of contraceptives to students. More than half (64.5%) of the students were sexually active, of whom (91.2%) were using contraceptives and the commonest reason for use was (48%) to prevent pregnancy. A majority (72.6%) used condoms and a slight number reported ever getting side effects from any method they used.

Conclusion Knowledge of contraceptives was good though the sources of information were inadequate. Attitudes towards the use of contraceptives were relatively good and so was the practice of use of contraceptives among those that report being sexually active. Training on contraception is so minimum and a few respondents reported obtaining side effects from the use of contraceptives.