KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICE OF EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION USE AMONG FEMALE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES (UDS), TAMALE CAMPUS

Abstract

The desire for sexual satisfaction and pleasure as opposed by its unintended consequences has given rise to the use of Emergency Contraceptives. Emergency contraceptive is a type of modern contraception, which is used after unprotected sexual intercourse, following sexual abuse, misuse of regular contraception or non-use of contraception. The main objective of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and practice of emergency contraception use among female students of the University for Development Studies, Tamale campus. The study employed the descriptive cross-sectional study with mixed method approach. Data from this study was sourced from both primary and secondary. The main tool for data collection was questionnaire and focus group discussion. Data was analyzed using thematic content analysis for qualitative data and SPSS version 24 for the quantitative data. The study found out that majority (63.8%) of the students had never had sex, 76.7% have heard about emergency via lecture halls (formal education) (66.2%), friends/relatives (11.4%), media (8.0%), Internet (8.0%) and health professionals (6.3%). Majority (65.0%) of the study participants’ demonstrated sufficient knowledge on emergency contraceptives and 54.0% of the students had good attitude toward emergency contraceptives. Results of this study revealed high level of awareness and knowledge of the students on emergency contraception. The students had good attitudes towards the contraceptive but were unwilling to use it in the future. Majority of the respondent had used emergency contraception at least once. The study recommended that emergency contraceptive use should be encouraged by the women commissioner of the student representative council.