Knowledge and Attitudes of Emergency Contraception among Medical Science Students

Background: Emergency contraception  (EC) has been available in Iran, however there has been little research into the extent of knowledge of the actions, effectiveness and attitudes of students about it .The aim of this study was to detect the Knowledge and attitudes of university students towards emergency contraception . Methods: A survey of 130 university students was conducted at Shahrekord university of Medical Sciences in Iran during the 2009- 2010 . A predesigned questionnaire was  distributed to students  who had passed the family planning subject and asking about their knowledge and attitudes towards emergency contraception.  Findings: Ninety-four of students had heard of emergency contraception . About of 85% of them, explained the contraceptive pills and 10% stated the intra uterine device (IUD) for EC .  Seventy-one  percent didn,t know the mechanism of action of EC pills and 29% believed that EC worked by disrupting a newly implanted ovum and would interrupt an ongoing pregnancy. Kind of method was reported OCP in 85.2%, OCP and IUD  in 5.3% of students . Finally, The awareness of students was insufficient in 15.4% of them. 76.9% of them had moderate and 7.7%  had sufficient  knowledge . More  than 80%  of students had positive attitudes towards emergency contraception . Conclusion: The level of  knowledge in university students' about emergency contraception was low and there is a clear need for ECP as a pregnancy prevention method among university students and for better education about it with considering the details for each  method  and  insertion of IUD  for emergency contraception .