Use of emergency contraceptive pills and condoms by college students: A survey

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Abstract

Objectives

This study examined the intentions, knowledge, and attitudes of college students regarding the use of emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) and condoms.

Design and setting

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at 16 Korean colleges.

Methods

Data were collected from March 15 to June 10, 2006 from a convenience sample of 1046 college students using a survey questionnaire. The survey included measures of demographic variables, intention to use ECPs (one item) and condoms (one item), knowledge about ECPs (12 items), and attitudes toward using ECPs (12 items) and condoms (16 items). All items except knowledge were rated on a 5-point Likert-type response format, with higher scores indicating greater intentions, more positive attitudes, and greater knowledge.

Results

Of the 1046 participants, 76.3% had heard of ECPs and 13.2% of the sexually active participants (n=190) had used them. Participants showed a general lack of knowledge about ECPs and misconceptions about their safety. The intentions of using ECPs and condoms were positively correlated with each other and with attitude such that the more positive the attitude, the greater their intention to use both ECPs and condoms. There were significant gender differences on many of the variables, in that female students had higher knowledge about ECPs, intention of using ECPs and condoms, and more positive attitude toward condoms than male students who had more positive attitudes toward ECPs. Females had more concerns about the safety of ECPs than males.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that college students must be better informed about ECPs, and reassured about their safety. Additionally, promoting ECPs would not negatively affect condom use. Efforts are needed to disseminate up-to-date information to the general public and to develop educational and awareness programs to empower young people to make informed decisions about the use of ECPs and condoms.

Section snippets

What is already known about the topic?

  • Willingness to use emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) is associated with the beliefs and attitudes toward using ECPs.

  • There are concerns that the availability of ECPs will result in reduced condom use. However, the relationship of intention to use ECPs and condom use remain unclear.

What this paper adds

  • The safety of ECPs was of great concern for female college students.

  • Individuals with more positive attitudes about ECPs were more willing to use ECPs if they were needed.

  • This study demonstrates that the intent to use ECPs is positively associated with attitude about condoms as well as the intent to use them.

Design, sample, and setting

The cross-sectional descriptive study recruited a convenience sample consisting of 1046 single undergraduate students from 16 colleges throughout South Korea. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire distributed to students between March 15 and June 10, 2006.

In contrast to Western countries where ECPs have been used for several decades, ECPs were only recently introduced to Korea. The Korean government deliberated for many years before deciding to introduce ECPs. Before they

Sample characteristics

Participants ranged in age from 17 to 30 years, with a mean of 22.72 years (SD=2.06). The majority of the participants were female (n=788, 75.3%), and sophomores (41.8%), with 279 freshmen (26.7%), 198 juniors (18.9%), and 132 seniors (12.6%) also included. The largest portion of participants had no religious affiliation (52.2%) followed by Christian (excluding Catholics) (22.1%), Buddhists (14.7%), and Catholics (10.5%), with the remainder having another religion (.5%).

Only 18.2% (n=190) of

Discussion

Participants showed a general lack of knowledge about ECPs and misconceptions about the safety of their use. The intention to use ECP correlated with both intent to use condoms and attitude toward condoms. The intent to use ECPs and condoms was significantly higher for females than for male students, which is not surprising given that women feel responsible for the use of contraceptives and are likely to be most affected by the prospect of unplanned pregnancies.

In previous studies, the intent

Study limitations

The use of convenience sampling limits the generalizibility of the study findings beyond the study sample. However, by selecting students from multiple colleges around the Korean nation, we believe the findings are fairly representative of Korean college students in general. However, young adults not enrolled in college as well as other sexually active groups may have decidedly different attitudes and intentions. Thus, research of other such populations is warranted.

Conclusions

Although a relatively high proportion of students reported having heard of ECPs, their perceived knowledge levels were very low and most had received little education about them. Based on these results, we conclude that campaigns designed to increase awareness of ECPs in college students provide an inadequate depth of information about them. College students also appear to have misconceptions about ECPs that raise their concerns about the safety of these drugs. Thus, more intense efforts to

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Korea Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government (MOEHRD) (KRF-2005-003-E00288). We would like to thank the participants for their participation and support.

References (33)

Cited by (23)

  • Provision of Emergency Contraception at Student Health Centers in California Community Colleges

    2011, Women's Health Issues
    Citation Excerpt :

    Furthermore, EC is safe for nearly all women, and both the World Health Organization (WHO) and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have released statements validating EC’s safety (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2004; WHO, 2010). The availability of EC can be of particular benefit to college students, a population with increased prevalence of first-time sexual intercourse and inconsistent contraceptive use (Kang & Moneyham, 2008). Much of the research examining sexual and reproductive health behavior among college students focuses on traditional 4-year campuses, with limited data on community college students.

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