Use of contraceptive methods among students consulted with the
Beytepe students’ health center of Hacettepe university’s in Ankara, Turkey
S. Mihciokur, A. Akin
Students’ Health Center at Hacettepe University’s Beytepe
Campus, Ankara, Turkey, and Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Department
of Public Health, Ankara,Turkey
Introduction This study has been carried out
with the objective to analyse the contraceptive use among students who consulted
with the Students Health Center’s Youth Counseling Unit (YCU) at Hacettepe
University’s (HU) Beytepe Campus, providing clinical and counseling services on
sexual/reproductive health (S/RH) to meet the needs of the students and to
evaluate the contribution of this unit to the overall health services provided
at the health center.
Materials and methods The “Youth Counseling
Unit” (YCU) has been established and started to provide the services at
April 1st, 2003. The information on the reasons and the outcomes of
consultations to the YCU between April 1st, 2003 – March 31th, 2005 have been
collected by “Personal Registration Form” of YCU. The contribution of
the YCU to the Students’ Health Center has been evaluated by comparing the
reasons and the outcomes of the consultations with the health center in two
periods namely the first period is being between October 1st, 2002 – March 30th,
2003 when there was no YCU and second period is being April 1st 2003 – March
31th, 2005 when YCU was functioning , by using the information of “Personal
Examination Form” of the Students’ Health Center.
Results The analysis of
the reasons for consultations with the health center between April 1st, 2003 –
March 31th, 2005 showed that 45.5% of the students came to the unit for
examination, 28.2% applied to get information/counseling on S/RH related issues
and 21.6% to receive modern contraceptive methods. 7.8% of the students
diagnosed to have a STI and 81.9% other reproductive system disorders. 30.2%
(n=260) of the students received contraceptive methods. Among students who used
a contraceptive method, 54.2% was using condom and 45.8% was using oral
contraceptive. According to the evaluation in the period before the project
activities, almost all students came to the health center only for examination
related to general health issues rather than S/RH concerns. However in the
period where YCU was functioning they not only used the Health Center for their
clinical S/RH problems but also used the health center for getting counseling
services on S/RH related issues and receiving modern contraceptive methods.
Conclusion In this study the S/RH service model has been developed and
established within the health center. According to the final evaluation, this
approach first increased the overall utilization of the health center by the
students, secondly the health center was used more frequently for their S/RH
problems and needs and they did not use the health center only for examination
but also for counseling as well as to obtain contraceptive methods. This type of
“youth friendly model services” should be a part of the university
health centers for the young people and should be continued after necessary
modifications.
KEY WORDS University student, Youth, Reproductive and health
sexual health, Contraceptive methods