Health education alone and health education plus advance provision of emergency contraceptive pills on knowledge and attitudes among university female students in Enugu, Nigeria

Abstract

This was an intervention study to compare the effects of health education alone and health education plus advance provision of emergency contraception (EC) pills on the knowledge and attitudes to EC by female students of University of Nigeria in South‑East Nigeria.
Materials and Methods: Astructured questionnaire was used to collect data in February, 2009 from 290 female students of a tertiary educational institution (140 in the study group and 150 from the control group) who were selected by multistage sampling. Subsequently, health education was conducted among all the students. In addition, a pack containing 2 tablets of EC pills (Postinor) was given only to the students in the study group. Three months after this intervention, its effects were assessed through a survey using the same structured questionnaire employed in the baseline survey.
Results: knowledge of EC was significantly higher among the study group than the controls at post‑intervention, P < 0.05. Attitudes to EC were also more favorable at post‑intervention survey among the study group, P< 0.05 in most of the variables.
Conclusion/Recommendation: Health education plus advance provision of EC pills effectively improved knowledge and attitudes to EC among female students of tertiary institutions more than health education alone and this should be promoted.

Key words: Advance provision, attitudes, emergency contraception, female students, health education, knowledge, tertiary institutions