Original Research Article
Year: 2019 | Month: October-December | Volume: 4 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 38-48
Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Adolescents towards Contraception in Selected Secondary Schools in Offa Local Government Area, Nigeria
Oyewumi Zaccheus Opeyemi1, Atekoja Oluwabusolami Esther2, Oladotun Nike Oloruntosin3, Taiwo Diekolola Olajuwon4, Adedoyin Adeoye Adeyemi5
1LAUTECH Open and Distance Learning Centre, Oyo State, Nigeria, 2Department of Nursing, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria, 3LAUTECH Open and Distance Learning Centre, Oyo State, Nigeria, 4LAUTECH Open and Distance Learning Centre, Oyo State, Nigeria, 5LAUTECH Open and Distance Learning Centre, Oyo State, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
The population of an egalitarian society consists principally of the adult adolescents and children and the adolescents or youths constitute the highest population (over 65%) of a particular community. By natural endowment, hormonal activities are at their best in the adolescent as they undergo a major transition from youth to adult. Thus, understanding of knowledge, attitudes and practices of contraception is critical for countries like Nigeria with a population policy aimed at reducing unwanted pregnancy and spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Therefore, this study was undertaken to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of adolescents towards contraception in selected secondary schools in Offa Local Government Area, Nigeria. The study setting was four selected secondary schools in Offa Local Government Area, Nigeria (three of which are government owned and one private owned secondary schools) with the study population of 319 adolescents (22 did not returned the questionnaire) therefore the sample size was 297. A cross-sectional descriptive study was adopted. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to determine the sample size of respondents. Quantitative data were collected with the use of a structured, pre-tested and self-administered questionnaire. A p-value of less than or equal to 0.05 was taken to be statistically significant. All the respondents (297) have heard about contraception, out of which 27.6% have practiced it. Most of them (32.3%) heard through mass media, followed by teachers (21.9%) and friends (16.5%) respectively. About 6.1% of the respondents had good Knowledge of contraception, 59.6% had fair knowledge, while 34.3% had poor knowledge of contraception. 55.6% of the respondents had negative attitude while 44.4% had positive attitude. 73.7% of the respondents had low level of utilization while 26.3% had high level of utilization. The p value = 0.025 from the calculation is less than 0.05. Hence the null hypothesis is rejected meaning there is a significant association between the respondents’ knowledge of the contraception and their attitude. There is no significance difference in the attitude of male and female adolescent towards the use of contraception when the P value is 0.120.This study revealed that the majority of secondary school students have good to average knowledge on contraception. The proportion of secondary school students practicing contraception was still very low (27.6%). Early age basic knowledge and access to contraceptive services need to be enhanced. Also, it was found that a good number of adolescent shows negative attitude towards the practices of contraception.
Keywords: Adolescence, Adolescent, Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Contraception.