Emergency Contraceptives: Knowledge, Attitude and Prescription Practice of Primary Healthcare workers in Sokoto Metropolis, Northwest Nigeria.

Abstract

Background: Emergency contraception refers to methods of contraception that can be used to prevent pregnancy after sexual intercourse. About thirty percent of all pregnancies, and 61% of all unintended pregnancies, ended in an induced abortion in Nigeria, and many women with unwanted pregnancies decide to end them by abortion. Healthcare providers' knowledge and attitude towards emergency contraception is very important for dissemination of awareness, consumer acceptance and use of contraceptives, as health care workers interact with large numbers of women and are reliable sources of information. This study aimed to assess healthcare workers' emergency contraception knowledge, attitude and prescription practice. Materials and Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study. Healthcare workers providing services in Primary Health care facilities of Sokoto metropolis were studied. Using formula for sample size estimation for crosssectional study, a total of 419 respondents were recruited into the study using systematic sampling technique. The instrument of data collection was a structured interviewer administered questionnaire and data was collected by means of Open Data Kit for android App and analysed using IBM SPSS statistical software package version 23. Univariate and bivariate analysis were conducted; level of significance was set at 5%. Results: Few (39.9%) respondents knew that Intra uterine contraceptive devices can be used for emergency contraception, only 15.4% knew how emergency contraceptives work. Most (75.4%) believed that emergency contraceptives should be available only on prescription; and 30.5% felt that emergency contraceptive pills promote irresponsible behaviour. More than half of the respondents (56.5%) had prescribed within the last one month, 48.7% of them prescribed less than 5 times within the month. Only 27(8.0%) have ever prescribed emergency contraceptive pills in advance of need. Conclusion: The study respondents had good knowledge of emergency contraceptives, albeit, with some misconceptions, they also demonstrated good attitude, however, the prescription practice was fair.