| dc.description.abstract | Introduction
High rate of unintended pregnancies is still a major challenge globally resulting from the unmet
need for contraception. There are still many women especially in low income Countries who
want to prevent pregnancy but are barred from using modern methods of contraception by factors
like cost, concern of safety and side effects of these contraceptives. Standard days method of
contraception (SDM) being free from cost and side effects, is an opportunity of overcoming
some of these barriers and hence reduce on the burden of unplanned conceptions. Also young
women generally have limited access than older individuals to family Planning methods.
This study aimed at determining knowledge, attitude, practice and factors associated with
knowledge about SDM among first year female undergraduate students at Makerere University.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study was conducted at Makerere University in the halls of residence and
hostels housing the first year female undergraduate students for three weeks. A team of well
trained research assistants interviewed the eligible participants who provided data on socio
demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitudes and practice of SDM.
Statistical analysis of the data was performed using STATA version 12. Baseline characteristics
were summarised: continuous data was summarized as the mean and the categorical variables as
proportions. Bivariate analysis was done using logistic regression.
In order to determine the factors associated with knowledge, we dichotomised the knowledge of
the respondents into 1 if the participant had low knowledge and 0 if the participant was
sufficiently knowledgeable. We then performed logistic regression analysis initially starting with
bivariate analysis followed by multivariate analysis for the factors that were significant at
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bivariate (p value of less than 0.2) and factors known to affect knowledge from the previous
studies. The level of significance was set at a p value of 0.05 or less. We reported the
associations using odds ratios and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals.
Results
A total of 380 first year female undergraduate students participated in the study. The average age
of participants was 20.9 (SD 1.6). Most of the participants were Ugandans (97.6%) and the most
predominant faith was Christianity (77.9%). Three quarters of the participants (75.5%) had ever
heard about SDM and the main means of hearing about it was through friends (33.8%) followed
by television (16.9%). The overall knowledge about SDM was 57.9%.
Overall, the participants had positive attitude towards SDM; many reported that it has no side
effects (63.5%), would recommend it to a friend as a method of contraception (45.6%), and
would be supportive to a friend inquiring about it (70.4%).
However, the level of practice (28.9%) was relatively low despite their knowledge of SDM. The
only factor that was independently associated with adequate knowledge about SDM was prior
education about family planning.
Conclusion
Knowledge about SDM was relatively high but the practice was sub-optimal among the first year
female undergraduate students at Makarere University. Interventions that promote translation of
knowledge into practice of SDM are urgently needed at Makerere University. | en_US |
