A research on information and attitudes of 15-49 year aged women towards emergency contraception

Unintended and unplanned pregnancies have physical (physiological) and psychological effects on woman health. Besides, unintended pregnancies may cause intended abortions. Unintended pregnancies may be avoided by emergency contraception (EC) method. Therefore informing women about EC method has great importance during counselling for family planning.The main aim of this descriptive research is to determine information and attitudes of 15-49 year aged women towards emergency contraception. The research was conducted with fertile women who applied to Turkish Ministry of Health Mother-Child Health and Family Planning Centre at Keçiören between February 2007 and March 2007. Data was collected through interview using a questionnaire titled ?Information and Attitudes of 15-49 Year Aged Women towards Emergency Contraception?. The questionnaire was developed by the researcher. Data collected was analyzed using statistical software, SPSS 11.0 for Windows. Throughout the analysis process average values, standard deviations, minimum and maximum values, percentages were calculated. Pearson correlation coefficients and ki-square values were also obtained. All hypotheses were tested at .05 significance level.According to the findings, 89,1% of the participants are unaware of the EC method. None of the illiterate women has information about the EC method. 37,1% of the women who has information about the EC method have university or a higher graduation degree. Among the women who have no information about the EC method, 89,1% have information about day after pills. 80% of women who have information about EC method do not use the method. Although 10,9% of the participants stated they have information about day after pills, this rate increased to 22,4% with the help of recall questions. Among the participants who stated they have information about day after pills, only 19,7% know when to use the pills, and 95,5% know how to obtain the pills. 95% of the participants are unaware of postkoital RIA application, one of EC methods. Only 2,04% of the participants have tried the EC method, but among those participants 75% stated that they would have used the method if they had known about it. Participants stated the spiral as most reliable protection method.As the result, women are unaware of the EC method and they have low level of information about EC. Informing women about the method has positive effects on attitudes towards the EC method.