Assessment of Knowledge and Attitude regarding Emergency Contraception among Medical Students of North India
Abstract
Background: Emergency Contraceptives (ECs) used to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse can forestall up to over 95% of pregnancies when taken inside within 5 days after intercourse. In India, about 0.18% women die every year due to abortion-related complications. Knowledge about emergency contraceptives is still relatively unknown to common man and even to medical professionals. This study therefore aims to assess the knowledge and attitude of medical students about the emergency contraception.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was done for 5 months period from January 2016 to May 2016. 250 medical students (125 females and 125 males) were selected by simple random sampling with 50 undergraduate students from each professionals (1st to 4th year), and 50 interns studying and working in PGIMS Rohtak. A predesigned pretested questionnaire was used for the study.
Result: Mean age of the study participants was 22.5 (±3) years. There was significant improvement in the knowledge about ECs with successive MBBS professional year with poor knowledge in 48% students. 53.6% of study participants showed unfavorable attitude with 74% interns having favorable attitude of score more than 2 which was found statistically significant. Knowledge was significantly good among age >20 years (58.9%), family income more than 1 lakh/month (64.7%) and male gender (55.6%). Unfavorable attitude was significantly more among students with middle income category (64.4%) and urban residential background (57.5%).
Conclusion: The study reveals poor Knowledge and attitude among medical students about emergency contraception which is a matter of concern. There is a need to change the learning strategies of medical students with their practical involvement with patients and community.
How to cite this article:
Pawar N, Choudhary P, Mital AK, Sembi S, Singhania K, Verma S. Assessment of Knowledge and Attitude regarding Emergency Contraception among Medical Students of North India. Int J Preven Curat Comm Med 2019; 5(4): 18-25.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2454.325X.201925
References
World Health Organization. Emergency Contraception [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization [cited
Oct 10]. Available from:: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs244/en.
Mittal S. Emergency contraception-potential for women’s health. Indian J Med Res 2014; 140(1): S45-52.
WHO: Unsafe Abortion-Global And Regional Estimates Of The Incidence Of Unsafe Abortion And Associated
Mortality. Geneva: WHO; 2004.
Tolossa E, Meshesha B, Abajobir AA. Assessment of level of knowledge and utilization of emergency
contraception among female students of Hawassa University, South Ethiopia. Adv Reprod Sci 2013; 1:
-56.
New Delhi: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; 1996. Government of India. Target-free approach in
family welfare programme.
Giri PA, Bangal VB, Phalke DB. Knowledge and Attitude of Medical Undergraduate, Interns and Postgraduate
Students in India Towards Emergency Contraception. N Am J Med Sci 2013; 5(1): 37-40.
Kassa A, Wolde-Mariam M. Knowledge, attitude and practice of emergency contraceptive pills among
female students of Hosanna College of Health Sciences,Hosanna, South Ethiopia. Journal of Chemical and
Pharmaceutical Sciences 2014; 7(3): 185-193.
Gebrehiwot H, Gebrekidan B, Berhe H, Kidanu K. Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice
towards Emergency Contraceptives among Female College Students at Mekelle Town, Tigray Region,
Ethiopia: A Cross Sectional Study. Int J Pharm Sci Res 2013; 4(3): 1027-1038.
Agrawal VK, Agrawal P. Knowledge, awareness and perception of female students of Emergency
Contraceptive pills. J Behav Health 2013; 2(3): 230-235.
Reddy NR, Kishore SG, Basha SR. Knoweldge on Emergency Contraception Among Medical Students
in Bangalore, Karnataka. J Evol Med Dent Sci 2014; 3(2): 369-373.
Iliyas MC. A cross sectional study on awareness about emergency contraception among medical students
in Kannur, Kerala, India. Int J Community Med Public Health 2016; 3: 3216-3219.
Vahratian A, Patel D, Wolff K, Xu X. College students´perceptions of emergency contraception
provision. J Womens Heal 2008; 17(1): 103-111.
Gajera AN, Barvaliya MJ, Shukla A, Tripathi CB. Knowledge and attitude towards emergency
contraception among undergraduate medical students. Int J Basic Clin Pharmacol 2017; 6: 955-961.
Gupta RK, Raina SK et al. Emergency contraception: knowledge and attitude toward its use among
medical students of a medical college in north-west India. J Pharm Bioallied Sci 2016; 8(3): 235-239. DOI:
4103/0975-7406.175974.
Singh S, Mittal S, et al. Emergency contraception: knowledge and views of doctors in Delhi. Health Popul
Perspect Issues 2002;25(1):45–54.
Kadam M, Kadam S et al. Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Medical Students toward Emergency
Contraception. MGM J Med Sci 2019; 6(1): 25-28.
Dogra A, Wankhede UN. Knowledge and attitude of medical undergraduate, interns and postgraduate
students towards emergency contraception. Int J Reprod Contracept Obstet Gynecol 2017; 6: 2944-2947.
Parey B, Addison L, Mark JK, Maurice B, Tripathi V, Wahid S et al. Knowledge, attitude and practice of
emergency contraceptive pills among tertiary level students in Trinidad: A cross-sectional survey. West
Indian Med J 2010; 59: 650-655.
Baiden F, Awini E, Clerk C. Perception of university students in Ghana about emergency contraception.
Contraception 2002; 66: 23-26.
Kongnyuy EJ, Ngassa P, Fomulu N, Wiysonge CS, Kouam L, Doh AS. A survey of knowledge, attitudes and practice of emergency contraception among university students in Cameroon. BMC Emerg Med 2007; 7: 7.
