Knowledge, attitude and practice of emergency contraceptive pills among tertiary level students in Trinidad: a cross-sectional survey.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to estimate the general knowledge, attitude and practice of Emergency Contraceptive pills (ECs) among tertiary level students in Trinidad.

METHOD

A 32-item questionnaire was constructed to assess knowledge, attitudes and practice of EC. There were 76 medical and 160 non-medical students who volunteered to fill-up the questionnaire. This survey was conducted by graduate students under supervision of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, UWI, St Augustine.

RESULTS

Eighty-four per cent of the students were less than 25 years of age, 64% were Christians and 92% were single. Sixty-three per cent were female and there were more females in the non-medical group than the medical students group but the numbers were not significant. Eighty-one per cent used condoms as the main type of contraception. Only 63% had heard of ECs before and only 9% had heard of ECs from medical sources. Among the factors that related to attitude towards EC, only two factors were significant. Sixty-two per cent of students felt that increased EC use would increase promiscuity (p = 0.013) but 59% also felt that ECs should be made more easily available (p = 0.014).

CONCLUSION

The general level of their knowledge about ECs was poor. The general attitude of students towards ECs was positive. This study will help policy-makers by providing evidence-based knowledge to promote EC use among university students.