Sexual exposure, awareness, and knowledge of long-acting reversible contraceptives among female university students in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

Unplanned and unintended pregnancies have become major medical, social and public health issues worldwide. The objective of
this study was to determine sexual exposure, awareness and knowledge of long active reversible contraceptives (LARC) among
female undergraduate students in public and private universities in Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria. A comparative cross-sectional
study was carried out among 428 female university undergraduates in Ekiti State (208 students in public and 210 students in private)
using a multi-stage sampling technique. Data were obtained using a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using IBM SPSS
version 23. P-value <0.05 was taken as significant. The mean age of respondents was 21.1±2.5years in public and 19.3±2.1years in
private university. 53% of public university students and 30% of private university students have had sexual intercourse. While
41.3% of public university students were aware of LARC, 37.1% of the private university students were aware. The knowledge of
LARC among the public university students was lower (23.6%) as compared to those in private university (33.3%). We conclude
that while sexual exposure is higher among public university students than in private, the awareness of LARC was higher in public
than private universities. Continuous campaign programmes to university students on the benefit of LARC is recommended.