Abstract
BackgroundCollege students have a high incidence of unplanned pregnancies in China, which has highly raised public attention. As such, numerous reproductive health services are provided to college students. This study examined whether health services in college lead to contraceptive use among female college students in heterosexual relationships.MethodsA self-administered questionnaire survey with cross-sectional design was administered among female students in four colleges in Wuhan, China to identify health service factors associated with contraceptive use in the past 6 months.ResultsThe analysis revealed that younger female students had lower odds of contraception use, whereas students who reported availability of health-related web sites were more likely to use contraceptives. Female students who reported that contraceptives and birth control counselling were accessible from college health services had greater odds of contraceptive usage. Finally, provision of contraceptives and birth control counselling from school were associated with greater odds of contraceptive use.ConclusionsContraceptive-related health services play an important role in reducing unintended pregnancies by directly addressing the contraceptive needs of female students. Programs that provide targeted services may help to reduce high rates of unexpected pregnancies among female students in China.
Highlights
College students have a high incidence of unplanned pregnancies in China, which has highly raised public attention
24 % reported that their college provided contraceptives, and 15 % reported that their college offered birth control counseling
We found that the provision of health-related websites by colleges was associated with greater odds of high frequency contraceptive use among female students
Summary
College students have a high incidence of unplanned pregnancies in China, which has highly raised public attention. Several studies in China have shown that students’ main source of knowledge on sex and reproduction is the media, including books, magazines and other periodicals, movies, and television [7, 8]. Education from both school and family is the most basic tool to increase young. Health services, including providing free contraceptives and counseling at college and university student health centers, have been linked to increased contraceptive use and consistency of use among female students [10, 11]. A recent study suggested that more convenient access to services and contraceptives may be an important intervention to increase contraceptive use [15]
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