Attitude, awareness and characteristics of emergency contraceptive pill usage among adolescents

Abstract

The emergency contraceptive pill (ECP) is effective in preventing unintended pregnancy. This study was a descriptive research. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of ECP usage in female adolescence, and compare the attitudes and awareness of using ECP. The subjects were junior and senior high school students living in Bangkok, aged between 13-19 years. They were divided into 2 groups, 85 subjects per group. The research tool was a questionnaire asking about attitude, awareness and the characteristics of ECP used. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics and t-test. The results found the group of junior and senior high school students knew the ECP for preventing unintended pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse (98.8% vs. 97.6%, respectively). However, the adolescents were uncertain when the ECP should be used efficiently (58.8% vs. 41.2%, respectively). Most of these adolescents have ever received information about ECP from peer (23.5% vs. 22.3%, respectively) and most gave a reason to use ECP that it might be the most effective way to prevent pregnancy (20.0% vs. 23.5%). The senior high school students had lower mean scores for attitudes about using ECP than the junior high school students (34.6 vs. 36.2, p = 0.121, respectively). However, they had statistically significant higher scores for awareness about ECP than the junior high school students (7.2 vs. 5.5, p = 0.000 respectively). The overall attitudes about using ECP were in positive. Most of this group have everheard or been aware of the ECP (88.2% and 94.1%, respectively). Some in both groups had ever heard about or understood the mechanisms of emergency contraceptive pills (30.6% and 51.8%, respectively). Adolescents should be use the ECP for prevent unintended pregnancy. The health care providers shouldprovide information of mechanism, method of usage, side effect, and effectiveness of ECP to adolescents.