Knowledge, attitudes and practices on contraception for teens

Abstract

Objective: to Investigate the communication, knowledge, attitudes and sexual behavior of adolescents. Method: this is an exploratory study and was conducted with students from the 7th to the 9th grade. Variables were: communication, attitudes, knowledge about contraception, sex, age, and sexual behavior. Analyses were performed by frequency, chi-square test, Student and logistic regression. Results: of the 570 participants, most had 14-16 years and had little knowledge and unfavorable or ambivalent attitudes. Only 65% talked about contraception and 21,4% were sexually initiated. Among these, 49,3% had never used contraceptive methods (CM). There was no significant difference in the use of CMs between those who talked about contraception or not (p = 0,201). Conclusion: the results have presented a majority of sexually active adolescents under 15 years with knowledge and unfavorable attitudes to contraception and never used any CM. This study warns that communication about contraception should be encouraged before sexual initiation.