Knowledge, attitude and practice of emergency contraception on nursing personnel.

Abstract

Emergency Contraception is a grossly underu-tilized option of prevention of pregnancy. It is a safe and effective method which can prevent unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and unwanted childbirth. Knowledge and attitude of Nursing personnel who are both service providers and health educators to the community can influence the contraceptive behavior of the people exposed to them. A few studies done in our country indicate that their awareness regarding EC is low. To explore the knowledge, attitude and practice of EC amongst Nursing Personnel in a medical college hospital. In this study, 185 nursing personnel participated. A predesigned, pretested questionnaire was used to collect their responses regarding knowledge, attitude and practice of EC. Descriptive analysis of data was done. Results : Out of the total, 52.43% of the participants had good knowledge regarding the general information of EC, 51.35% had positive attitude towards EC, 47.56% had expressed willingness to use EC if indicated whereas only 22.7% had ever used EC. 72.97% had expressed willingness to attend awareness programmes on EC. Conclusion :Even though knowledge and attitude towards EC among the participants was marginally good they had many misconceptions regarding specific aspects like mode of action, indications and timing of administration. More awareness programmes would definitely clear their misconceptions and apprehensions and encourage Nursing Personnel to personally use and promote EC to others.