Awareness and sources of contraception information among female university students in Nigeria

Abstract

Female university students are at the age of active sexual life, but desire to delay becoming mothers, thus making the provision to them of correct and timely information on contraception crucial. This study aims to investigate the level of awareness and information behaviour on contraception among Nigerian female university students. Using simple random sampling to select participants from the university’s nine colleges at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria, a total of 800 questionnaires were administered, of which 91.6% were duly completed. The findings showed that awareness of contraception among respondents was 95.2%; the most known contraceptive methods were the male condom, oral pills and injectables; most respondents (80.7%) first learnt of contraception at secondary school. Respondents’ most frequent sources of contraception information were friends, television and magazines/newspapers, but their most preferred sources were physicians/health workers, parents and university lectures/lecturers. The major barriers faced in seeking information on contraception were inability to get reliable and accurate information, lack of time and fear of embarrassment. Measures to increase the adoption of contraception among female students must take cognizance of their preferred sources of information to deliver correct and adequate information about contraceptive methods.

Knowledge, attitude, and practice among Saudi primary health care attendees about family planning in Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

“…[ 14 ] This difference could be explained by the difference in their sample socio-demographic characteristics. Many international studies from Sudan,[ 21 ] Nigeria,[ 27 ] Bangladesh,[ 20 ] and Pakistan,[ 16 ] also documented the role of media as the source of information. A study from India[ 28 ] documented that the major source of knowledge regarding contraceptives in their subjects were health workers (58.6%) followed by media 24.1%.…”

The Use of Contraceptives in Nigeria: Benefits, Challenges and Probable Solutions

“…Although the levels of contraceptive knowledge are high (Bankole & Onasote 2017;Eniojukan et al 2015), and usage is higher among older women when compared with women who married at the age of 18 (Bello et al 2016). This indicates that age is of great importance in women's use of contraceptives.…”

“…The observation that a significant proportion of women opting for repeat induced abortion were youths (15-24 years) and the fact that a woman presenting for second-or higher-order repeat induced abortion is more likely to be single than married are worrisome (Kavanaugh et al 2011). This is born out of the fact that the level of knowledge and awareness of contraception is high among the youths (Alano & Hanson 2018;Bankole & Onasote, 2017;Bello et al 2016;Adewole et al 2002). But paradoxically, contraceptive utilization rate is low among the youths due to the gap in communication between health providers and unmarried youths regarding their rights to privacy and confidentiality (Sychareun 2004).…”

“…students (Bankole & Onasote, 2017;Bello et al 2016;Eniojukan et al 2015), still there is no reduction in population growth and social problems attached. Is it that the participants are knowledgeable of the oral contraceptive pills but refused to use them?…”

Knowledge, Awareness, and Perception on Contraception Among Women of Reproductive Age Attending Senawang Health Clinic

“…In North-West Nigeria, with regard to educational attainment, it was discovered that the higher the educational level completed, the higher the proportion of members that were aware of contraceptives (Adefalu et al, 2018). In a study conducted among female university students, majority of the participants claimed that they are aware of contraception and participants with higher education level showed a higher total awareness score (Bankole et al, 2016).Study was supported with analysed result from a similar study conducted by Akintade et al, (2012) whereby he mentioned that the level of awareness on contraception among university students was high (98.3%).…”