The knowledge, attitude, and practices of emergency contraceptive pill among female Makerere University students

Abstract

Background: Many university students indulge in early sex and are reluctant to use contraception and this leads to a great risk of unwanted pregnancy among the university girls. Considering that many of these students have no access or are not informed about emergency contraception, they are left with abortion as the only option for termination of the unwanted pregnancies. Aim. To assess the level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices of female students concerning emergency contraception pill at Makerere University. Methods. This was a cross sectional study design that involved use of quantitative research methods. It was conducted among female students at three halls of residence for Makerere University. Data analysis: Collected data was coded, entered and cleaned in Microsoft excel 2013 spread sheet and exported to SPSS software package for analysis. Descriptive analysis was done and result reported inform of frequency and proportions. Results. Total of 344 participants at average age of 22.40  1.85 years were recruited. 45.1% know that EC can be obtained from both health facilities and pharmacy, 52.9% reported correct time limit for use of EC as 72 hours, and 36.6% gets information about EC from health workers. 36.9% were willing to use the EC and 35.5% of the participants agreed that they would recommend EC to friends. 36.0% have ever used EC, with the mean number of 1.88 (SD=1.08) times per participant. Conclusion. Our findings offer an important step in understanding the extent of adoption of contraception by Makerere University female students, and it also provides an opportunity for future research. Recommendations. Further studies should be conducted in other universities in Uganda, and also among male university students. Key words: Emergency contraception (EC), university, knowledge, attitudes, practices.