Abstract
Unplanned teenage pregnancy constitutes an important health problem, whilst contraceptive services are free throughout South Africa and the number of Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) services is increasing. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of secondary school girls towards contraception in Thulamela Municipality of Limpopo Province, South Africa. A quantitative descriptive study design was used and respondents were selected by convenience sampling from a population of secondary school girls, the sample consisting of 273 girls in Grades 10-12. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data and analysed by computing frequencies and percentages using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Findings showed that respondents were aware of different contraceptive methods that can prevent pregnancy. However, most did not have knowledge of the emergency contraceptive, intra-uterine device and female condom. Pressure from male partners, fear of parental reaction to the use of contraceptives, reluctance to use contraceptives, poor contraceptive education and lack of counselling were seen as the main causes of ineffective contraceptive use and non-utilisation. Possible modalities of intervention deal with providing contraceptive counselling and care to empower these school girls to make informed choices on reproductive health.
Highlights
With global expansion of contraceptive information and services, contraceptive technologies have continually improved and contraceptive prevalence has risen throughout most of the world
Concrete sexual education and related information were not made available to the youth until they were faced with the trauma of unwanted pregnancies, birth complications and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) due to wrong decisions and misconceptions about contraceptives (Sapire 1988; Kau 1988)
The research results were analysed according to the sections of the self-reported questionnaire
Summary
With global expansion of contraceptive information and services, contraceptive technologies have continually improved and contraceptive prevalence has risen throughout most of the world. Ziyani and Ehlers (2006) indicate that the attitudes of healthcare providers contribute to the non-use of contraceptives by adolescents, since they are denied access by being ridiculed, and despite having knowledge about contraceptives they end up becoming pregnant. Concrete sexual education and related information were not made available to the youth until they were faced with the trauma of unwanted pregnancies, birth complications and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) due to wrong decisions and misconceptions about contraceptives (Sapire 1988; Kau 1988). Ziyani and Ehlers (2006) reported that adolescent girls saw it as ideal to have given birth by the age of 18 years, since contraceptives would delay childbearing and cause sub-fertility – an indication that within African culture families and childbearing are highly valued Concrete sexual education and related information were not made available to the youth until they were faced with the trauma of unwanted pregnancies, birth complications and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) due to wrong decisions and misconceptions about contraceptives (Sapire 1988; Kau 1988). Ziyani and Ehlers (2006) reported that adolescent girls saw it as ideal to have given birth by the age of 18 years, since contraceptives would delay childbearing and cause sub-fertility – an indication that within African culture families and childbearing are highly valued
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