Assessing Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Emergency Contraception: A Cross-Sectional Study among Ethiopian Undergraduate Female Students

This Ethiopian study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of using emergency contraception (EC) and to further elucidate the relationship between these factors and some socioeconomic and demographic characteristics among female undergraduate students of Addis Ababa University (AAU), as well as report on the media sources of their knowledge.

The authors conducted a cross-sectional quantitative study among 368 AAU undergraduate students using a self-administered questionnaire. Results were presented using descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, and logistic regression.

Sexually active participants had significantly better attitudes toward EC than sexually inactive participants, even after the authors adjusted for possible confounders such as age, region, religion, ethnicity, marital status, department, and family education and income. The study showed high EC awareness and use in contrast to other studies in the city, which could be due to the fact that university students are relatively better educated.

Sources of information with participant numbers and percentages of the respondent population who had indicated them as a source of knowledge on EC:

• Formal Education: 108 (29.3) percent
• Media - Radio, Television: 278 (75.5) percent
• Magazine: 15 (4.1) percent
• Internet: 29 (7.9) percent
• Health facilities: 255 (69.3) percent
• Friends/relatives: 7 (1.9) percent

The researchers recommend that interventions intended to combat maternal mortality through contraceptive usage need to take into account such information specific to the intended groups involved in the intervention.

The study concludes: "The study showed high level of EC awareness and usage in contrast to other studies in the city; this could be due to the fact that these study participants are relatively in higher educational level in comparison to other women in the city. However, it was shown that there was low level of positive attitude, which in fact could be due to high number of sexually inactive participants, who are expected to be reluctant about the issue. Assessing the knowledge, attitude and usage of EC and the relationship of these factors and some socio-demographic characteristics plays a leading role in public health projects which are aimed to combat maternal mortality through reducing unintended pregnancies. To change attitude towards EC and further increase the level of awareness and usage, collaborated health education and similar studies among health and Media workers are highly recommended. A separate study to assess the level and the type of forced sexual intercourse is also recommended."