Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
J Biosoc Sci. 2010 Sep;42(5):619-32. doi: 10.1017/S0021932010000179. Epub 2010 Jun 3.
This study examines the prevalence and determinants of adolescents' unintended pregnancy and induced abortion in Owerri, Nigeria. A pre-coded questionnaire was used to obtain information from 540 female adolescents of mean age 15.8 years. In addition, four FGDs were held with female adolescents in selected localities and in-depth interviews held with fifteen health-care service providers. Almost all the adolescents (99.8%) were Christians, with 70.3% being Catholics and 68.2% living with their parents. Over half (57.2%) of the adolescents had had sex. Contraceptives were rarely used owing to deep-seated cultural values. The data show that 31.6% of those who had ever had sex had an unintended pregnancy. Of these, 78.9% had recurrent pregnancies and 20.2% had an abortion. Of the latter, 41.8% had a recurrent abortion and 72.7% a post-abortion problem, for which 70.2% never sought treatment, increasing the risk of infertility in later life. The abortion seekers mostly went to patent medicine operators. A more acceptable and cost-effective contraceptive campaign involving use of local vernacular and traditional/local opinion leaders should be explored.
这项研究考察了尼日利亚奥韦里青少年意外怀孕和人工流产的流行情况和决定因素。研究采用预先编码的问卷，从 540 名平均年龄为 15.8 岁的女性青少年中获取信息。此外，还在选定的地方与 4 组女性青少年进行了焦点小组讨论，并与 15 名医疗服务提供者进行了深入访谈。几乎所有的青少年（99.8%）都是基督徒，其中 70.3%是天主教徒，68.2%与父母同住。超过一半（57.2%）的青少年有过性行为。由于根深蒂固的文化价值观，避孕药具很少被使用。数据显示，曾经有过性行为的青少年中有 31.6%意外怀孕。其中，78.9%有反复怀孕，20.2%有堕胎。后者中，41.8%有反复堕胎，72.7%有堕胎后问题，其中 70.2%从未寻求治疗，增加了日后不孕的风险。堕胎者大多去专利药品经营者那里寻求帮助。应该探索更能被接受和更具成本效益的避孕运动，包括使用当地白话和传统/当地意见领袖。
