Female Condom: Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices among Female College Students

While the female condom empowers females to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV & AIDS and unwanted pregnancy, its use has been, hitherto, low particularly in developing countries. The study sought to determine knowledge, attitudes and practices of female students concerning the female condom. A descriptive research design was used with a sample of 50 female students from Africa University who were recruited through systematic sampling.Data was collected using selfadministered questionnaires and analysed using descriptive statistics in form of frequent tables, figures and content analysis. The study revealed that all the respondents had heard of the female condom and70%of the respondents felt that the female condom is useful. However, female condom usage was very low only 2(4%) of the respondents who had used condoms. Factors like male decision (72%) fear of retention of condom (38%), perception, religion, culture and gender impacted negatively on the use of the female condom. Logistical factors such as female condom distribution which affected availability and accessibility of the female condoms were also predictors of utilisation. Negative attitudes and perceptions towards the female condom by the male partners can be reduced by involving them in female condom awareness and education programmes. Female condom advocacy should be an integrated component of the overall behaviour change communication packages for HIV and AIDS.