Nursing Students’ Knowledge, Attitude and Use regarding an Implanted Contraceptive Method

Abstract

Despite the prioritisation of contraceptives in the sustainable development goals for 2030 and their increasing availability, unplanned pregnancy remains a universal problem, representing up to 40 per cent of all reported pregnancies. Many sub-Saharan African countries, including South Africa, have resorted to the use of implanted contraceptives, such as Implanon, to decrease the rate of unintended pregnancies. Therefore, this study sought to assess the knowledge, attitude and use regarding the Implanon contraceptive method among undergraduate nursing students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 60 undergraduate nursing students who were selected using a stratified random sampling technique. Data were collected through questionnaires and analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 24. The results revealed that 37 (61.7%) of the respondents were between the ages of 18 and 19 years and none were married or divorced. Fifty-five (91.7%) of them had no children, while 5 (8.3%) had experienced an unintended pregnancy before. Twenty-five (41.7%) of the respondents were not aware of the availability of Implanon, while 35 (58.3%) of them had unfavourable attitudes to the contraceptive method. The results also revealed a significant relationship between certain socio-demographic variables, especially between age and the experience of an unintended pregnancy (p = 0.006). Based on these findings, efforts should be made to promote contraceptive education and counselling. Further research, preferably qualitative research, is needed to explore the reasons for the unfavourable attitude to the implanted contraceptive method.

Knowledge and Attitude Towards Contraceptive Methods Among First-Year Nursing Students in Da Nang, Vietnam

“…14 The result was also much higher than the finding of the study carried out first-and second-year nursing students in South Africa with 58.3% of them had unfavorable attitude. 11 According to current study, majority of participant disagreed that contraceptives such as condom reduced sex drive. This was opposite to a research in Tanzania where nearly two-thirds of participants stated that contraceptive methods decreased sexual desire as well as they recognized that condom could slip off when doing intercourse.…”

“…This was similar to the studies in Spain, 10 and South Africa. 11 Most of them were female that perfectly reflected the specific of nursing major. This rate was similar to the study on 178 nursing students in Brazil with 97.75% of female.…”

Contraceptive self-injection knowledge, attitude and practices among female students of a tertiary health institution in south west Nigeria

“…For instance, Ukoha and Mooi in a study among Nigerian nursing students revealed that 47.7% of their respondents possessed inadequate knowledge of Implanon. 28 In another study by van Zyl et al, among Health Sciences students in Tanzania, half of the respondents were not aware of subdermal implants and 34.8% have not heard of intrauterine devices. 29 In Nigeria, Aigbiremolen et al, revealed that only 31.2% of undergraduate students had good knowledge of contraceptive methods and their benefits.…”