On Emergency Contraception among Female Students of Haramaya University, Ethiopia: Surveying the Level of Knowledge and Attitude

Unwanted pregnancy (UP), which may lead to unsafe abortion, is common among young women. Unwanted pregnancy can occur due to missed pills, forced sex, method failures, and condom breakage. To prevent such problem, Emergency Contraceptives (EC) are the only method that can be used after unprotected sex. This cross-sectional study has thus aimed at investigating the level of awareness, knowledge and attitudes of young female students of Haramaya University (HU) on EC. The study generated the required data from a representative sample of 572 female students drawn from the study population through multistage sampling. Data were collected using survey questionnaire, and subsequent analysis was done using simple descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis (logistic regression model).The findings of the study revealed that 47.6% of the respondents had ever heard about EC; 25.7 % had good knowledge of EC, and 76.5% had favorable attitude toward EC. In the multivariate analysis, certain variables have become significant predictors of awareness of EC including: age, previous place of residence, religion, grade level, knowing other methods preventing unwanted pregnancy, sex education, chewing ‘Khat’, and consuming alcohol. Similarly, religion, grade level, father’s educational level, knowing other methods of preventing unwanted pregnancy, and currently chewing Khat were found to significantly predict attitude toward EC. Finally, the study has forwarded some recommendations based on the key findings.