Knowing Emergency Contraceptive Methods and Usage Rules of University Students

Abstract

Emergency contraceptive methods (ECM) offer individuals a "second chance" to unwanted pregnancies. This research is planned to evaluate the knowledge levels of university students about ECM rules. This descriptive and cross-sectional research population consisted of students (N=1480) studied at Marmara University Faculty of Health Sciences between February 2015 and April 2015. The sample calculation of the study was calculated with an 80% confidence interval and α=0.05. The research was carried out with 648 participants who met the inclusion criteria. Data were collected with a questionnaire based on self-reporting. The mean age of the participants was 20.4±1.4 years, and more than half were nursing students. Participants' rates of sexual intercourse were 8.5%, and 47.3% of these were using modern contraceptives. Only 20% used ECM after unprotected sexual intercourse. The rate of participants who heard and had knowledge of ECM was 42.3%. Although the participants' source of information was health professionals, it was found that they had incomplete and erroneous information about ECMs. It was determined that there was a statistically significant difference between knowing and hearing ECM, age, department, years of education, and sexual intercourse (p