Understanding of emergency contraception among nursing staff in a tertiary care hospital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

Abstract

Context: Emergency contraception (EC) offers women a last chance to prevent pregnancy after unprotected intercourse. Nursing personnel are both service providers and health educators to the community and their understanding can influence the contraceptive behaviour.

Aim: To find out the understanding of emergency contraception among nursing personnel.

Settings and design: Descriptive cross-sectional study.

Material and methods: A predesigned questionnaire was used to collect the responses of nurses regarding their understanding of Emergency Contraception.

Statistical analysis used: Mean & Percentages.

Results: Eighty (80%) of the respondents had heard about EC. Majority (88.75%) responded in favour of Levonorgestrel. Most (76.25%) opined incorrectly that EC pills are abortifacient. All the participants showed positive attitude towards EC. However, only three participants came out to be EC users.

Conclusion: Nurses with a complete knowledge and positive attitude towards EC can act as effective counsellors to the public to create awareness, improve their understanding and change their attitude towards EC.

Keywords: Understanding; Nurses; Emergency contraception; Levonorgestrel