Emergency contraception – awareness among young women from Upper Silesia Region

Abstract

Objectives: Evaluation of prevalence, acceptation and awareness about emergency contraception among young woman from Upper Silesia region. Material and Methods: A questionnaire study was performed in a group of 396 female students of Silesia colleges and universities, aged from 19 to 29. Self-prepared questionnaire was used to evaluate the research group. We asked questions about sexual life, birth control and emergency contraception. Statistica 6.0 software was used for statistical analysis. Results: Mean age of the respondents was 22.1 (±1.54) years. Most of the respondents were sexually active (66%), mean age of the first sexual intercourse was 19.1 years. Almost all of the respondents heard about emergency contraception, but the majority claimed that it was not a safe method of birth control and should not be administered without prescription. Half of the women perceived emergency contraception as an abortive method. Thus, most of them would not use any kind of emergency contraception, the reason being either that they were against abortion or that the very concept of emergency contraception was against their personal beliefs. 12.7% of the sexually active woman applied emergency contraception and 10 women (3.7%) used it more than once. Conclusions: The use of emergency contraception among young woman from Upper Silesia is connected with sexual intercourse without protection. Those young women identify emergency contraception as an abortive method. Knowledge about emergency contraception in this group is not only limited but also incorrect.