University student men’s views, attitudes and behaviours
about family planning and emergency contraception
NH Sahin
Istanbul University, Florence Nightingale School of Nursing,
Istanbul, Turkey
The data on men’s views, attitudes and behaviours about family
planning as an important part of reproductive health, is very limited in Turkey.
Objective The study was planned descriptively to
determine university student men’s views, attitudes and behaviours about family
planning and emergency contraception.
Design and methods The study was carried out with 262 men
who were chosen by convenience sampling method from several universities in
Istanbul. Data were obtained through interviews with men with a questionnaire
developed by the researchers. Descriptive and comparative analysis were made
with SPSS (Client Version 11.9).
Results The mean age of the participant students was
21.56±2.0 and ranged between 17 and 28 years. 39% of the students were studying
about social sciences, %51,9 in the faculty of science and 8% in health sciences.
96,6% of men were single and 3.4% of them were married. Students'(n=197) average
age at their first sexual intercourse experiences was 17.44±2.26 years. 65 of
them didn’t have a sexual intercourse experience yet and 13 students didn’t
reply this question. 73% of the students used a contraceptive method in their
first sexual experiences. Of these students who used any method, 69,54% used
condom. Mothers of the students who used a contraceptive method at their first
sexual experiences were significantly more educated (x=10,811; p<0.05). 13 of the students who didn't use a contraceptive method had unwanted pregnancies with their partner (13/197). Students who used a contraceptive method at their first sexual experiences continue using a method significantly (X=54.127,p<0.000). 98,5% of the students knew at least one contraceptive method. 82,1% of them knew oral contraceptives, 43,1% knew IUD and 40,5% knew female condom from the contraceptive methods for women. 95,8% of the students knew condom, 73,7% knew withdrawal and 33.3% knew vasectomy from the contraceptive methods for men. The main sources of information about contraceptive methods were media (75,2%), friends (71,8%), health professional (19,%) and family (19,5%). Condom is the most well known (95,8%) and commonly used (54.6%) contraceptive method and men view this method mostly appropriate (58,4%). Taking a shared responsibility for contraception among students was high (79,4%). 13 % of them thought contraception was only women's responsibility and 7,7 % thought it was only men's responsibility. 19,5% of the students had negative attitudes against condom and 34% of them were against vasectomy. The rate of the students who have heard about emergency contraception was very low (14,5%). This rate was significantly higher in students who were studying about health sciences (X=20.451;p<0.000).
Conclusions Students, who are also sexually active men
mostly, doesn’t have enough knowledge about family planning and emergency
contraception.