Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Emergency Contraception Among Nursing Personnel

Abstract

Emergency contraception plays vital role reducing maternal mortality substantially and improves maternal health by avoiding unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion. The objective of this study was to find out the knowledge and attitude of nursing personnel regarding emergency contraception. On an average, 96.33% of nursing personnel had knowledge on general information of Emergency Contraception (EC), 88.78% had knowledge about intrauterine contraceptive device as EC, 66.1% had knowledge on general information of emergency contraceptive pills, 65.5% had knowledge on its dosage and administration and only 59.05% had knowledge on its side effects and their management. On an average, 72.83% of them had knowledge on EC as a whole. More than three-fourth (78.18%) of them had positive attitude towards EC. When comparing nurses' knowledge between educational qualifications, training on EC, duration of experience and between inservice training on family planning counseling, there was statistically no significant difference on knowledge between these variables. When studying the correlation between nurses' knowledge and attitude regarding EC, it was found to be moderately correlated (r = 0.537). Based on the findings, it is concluded that on an average majority of nursing personnel tend to have knowledge on emergency contraception as a whole. Majority of them are likely to have positive attitude towards EC. Knowledge regarding emergency contraception is not related to different variables. Nurses' knowledge and attitude regarding emergency contraception have positive correlation.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Emergency Contraception on Nursing Personnel

“…Thapa in his study also reported that 78.18% of their participants had a positive attitude towards EC, 80% of their participants said that EC was safe for its users and 91.7% were ready to use EC personally whereas in our study 56.75% considered it as safe and only 47.56% were ready to use EC [7]. Similar to our findings no statistically significant difference between duration of experience and knowledge was noted [7].…”

“…In our study 30.81% of the participants were aware that EC was available OTC but 74% in the above study had awareness about its availability [6]. In a study done in Nepal on nursing personnel 65.5% knew about the dosage and administration of EC and 88.78% were aware that IUCD can be used as EC [7].…”

Knowledge, attitude and practice regarding emergency contraceptive pills among female health workers of a tertiary care hospital in Karachi

“…26 Similar results were reported in other developing countries including India, Nepal, and south Africa. [27][28][29] In contrast to our finding high level of knowledge was reported among nursing student by a Brazilian study (86-96%) and in Iranian study (93.5%). 21,30 Most likely reason for this low knowledge among female health workers was that in nursing and midwifery curriculum, methods of contraception have been teaching superficially but neither providing formal training nor focusing the methods of emergency contraception.…”

Workforce interventions to improve access to emergency contraception pills: a systematic review of current evidence in low- and middle-income countries and recommendations for improving performance

“…Data concerning provider knowledge was available in some studies [ 25 , 28 , 31 , 34 , 37 - 41 ]. While most providers surveyed felt ECP was safe [ 28 , 35 , 42 ] more than half of participants in some studies held reservations [ 30 , 34 , 37 , 41 , 43 , 44 ].…”

“…Barriers to prescription and/or dispensing were noted in a few studies, including low consumer demand [ 26 , 36 ], and ethical, legal and religious concerns of the providers [ 34 , 36 , 43 ]. ECP were regarded by some as delivering a cost saving to the health system through reducing the abortion rate [ 41 ] and unwanted child bearing [ 32 ], as well as an opportunity to promote regular contraception [ 47 ].…”