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Assessing the use of contraceptives by female undergraduate students in a selected higher educational institution in Gauteng

BACKGROUND: Unplanned pregnancies amongst students at higher education institutions are a major concern worldwide, including South Africa. Apart from various social and psychological challenges, unplanned pregnancies affect students’ objectives of achieving academic success. Research undertaken in t...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Coetzee, Maria H., Ngunyulu, Roinah N.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: AOSIS OpenJournals 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6091716/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26842088
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/curationis.v38i2.1535
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author Coetzee, Maria H.
Ngunyulu, Roinah N.
author_facet Coetzee, Maria H.
Ngunyulu, Roinah N.
author_sort Coetzee, Maria H.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Unplanned pregnancies amongst students at higher education institutions are a major concern worldwide, including South Africa. Apart from various social and psychological challenges, unplanned pregnancies affect students’ objectives of achieving academic success. Research undertaken in the United States of America (USA) indicates that around 80% of female students in institutions of higher education between ages 18 and 24 are sexually active. OBJECTIVES: To assess and describe the use of contraceptives by undergraduate female students in a selected higher educational institution in Gauteng. METHOD: A cross-sectional, descriptive, quantitative design was used. A total of 400 female undergraduate students were requested to respond to a self-administered questionnaire. Stratified random sampling was used to select the participants. They were selected systematically from two campuses. Data were entered using an excel sheet at the Department of Statistics, and analysed using the Statistical Analysis Software programme, (SAS version 9.3), of the Department of Statistics’ higher educational institutions. RESULTS: A total of 74% females indicated they were sexually active, 79% of whom reported using contraceptives. The most common used methods were oral contraceptives at 38%, and 25% for male condoms. The most commonly known methods were condoms at 84%, and the oral contraceptive at 68%. The knowledge of condom use to prevent sexually transmitted diseases was high at 91%. CONCLUSION: Inadequate knowledge and awareness on some contraceptive methods was found. Thus, educational programmes to increase students’ knowledge on the use of all contraceptive methods are urgently needed.
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spelling pubmed-60917162018-08-22 Assessing the use of contraceptives by female undergraduate students in a selected higher educational institution in Gauteng Coetzee, Maria H. Ngunyulu, Roinah N. Curationis Original Research BACKGROUND: Unplanned pregnancies amongst students at higher education institutions are a major concern worldwide, including South Africa. Apart from various social and psychological challenges, unplanned pregnancies affect students’ objectives of achieving academic success. Research undertaken in the United States of America (USA) indicates that around 80% of female students in institutions of higher education between ages 18 and 24 are sexually active. OBJECTIVES: To assess and describe the use of contraceptives by undergraduate female students in a selected higher educational institution in Gauteng. METHOD: A cross-sectional, descriptive, quantitative design was used. A total of 400 female undergraduate students were requested to respond to a self-administered questionnaire. Stratified random sampling was used to select the participants. They were selected systematically from two campuses. Data were entered using an excel sheet at the Department of Statistics, and analysed using the Statistical Analysis Software programme, (SAS version 9.3), of the Department of Statistics’ higher educational institutions. RESULTS: A total of 74% females indicated they were sexually active, 79% of whom reported using contraceptives. The most common used methods were oral contraceptives at 38%, and 25% for male condoms. The most commonly known methods were condoms at 84%, and the oral contraceptive at 68%. The knowledge of condom use to prevent sexually transmitted diseases was high at 91%. CONCLUSION: Inadequate knowledge and awareness on some contraceptive methods was found. Thus, educational programmes to increase students’ knowledge on the use of all contraceptive methods are urgently needed. AOSIS OpenJournals 2015-11-26 /pmc/articles/PMC6091716/ /pubmed/26842088 http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/curationis.v38i2.1535 Text en © 2015. The Authors http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Licensee:AOSIS OpenJournals. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
spellingShingle Original Research
Coetzee, Maria H.
Ngunyulu, Roinah N.
Assessing the use of contraceptives by female undergraduate students in a selected higher educational institution in Gauteng
title Assessing the use of contraceptives by female undergraduate students in a selected higher educational institution in Gauteng
title_full Assessing the use of contraceptives by female undergraduate students in a selected higher educational institution in Gauteng
title_fullStr Assessing the use of contraceptives by female undergraduate students in a selected higher educational institution in Gauteng
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the use of contraceptives by female undergraduate students in a selected higher educational institution in Gauteng
title_short Assessing the use of contraceptives by female undergraduate students in a selected higher educational institution in Gauteng
title_sort assessing the use of contraceptives by female undergraduate students in a selected higher educational institution in gauteng
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6091716/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26842088
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/curationis.v38i2.1535
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