Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Utilization of Emergency Contraception Among Women of Reproductive Age in Arsi Zone, Ethiopia
Abstract Background: Unintended pregnancies, pregnancies that occur within short intervals as well as unsafe abortion could be avoided by using contraceptives. Therefore: assessment of emergency contraceptives among unmarried women is importance because of high rates of unintended sexual intercourse leading to unwanted pregnancies as well as unsafe abortion. Methods: A cross-sectional community based household survey was conducted among 965 women chosen by systematic random sampling at Arsi zone. Descriptive statistics was presented with text and frequency tables. Both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis was carried out by Epi Info version 5.3.1 and exported to SPSS version 21. The association was also presented using odds ratios and 95% confidence levels. P-value of < 0.05 is used to declare the significance of association between variables. Results: From the total respondent participated in the study, 373 (38.7 %), 61.8%, and 11.2% of the total unmarried women had awareness, attitude and used emergency contraception respectively. Age, educational status, occupation, having experience of sexual intercourse and having discussion on reproductive health are significantly associated with awareness of emergency contraception. Conclusions: There is high level of knowledge, but low utilization of emergency contraceptives among unmarried women. Therefore, there is a need to emphasize on increasing awareness and accessibly as an option with other contraceptive method to all unmarried women in the study area.