Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Emergency Contraception among Married Women Attending Antenatal Clinics, Makkah (2018)
Background: Despite the advancements in current methods of contraception, unintended pregnancies are still widespread in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which adversely impact the well-being and health of women and their families. Objectives: To determine the level of knowledge, attitude and utilization of emergency contraception among women attending ante-natal clinics at primary health care centers in Makkah, 2018. Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at antenatal care clinics, Ministry of Health (MOH) PHC centers in Makkah city. A multi-stage random sample of married Saudi women in the childbearing age who were attending those clinics was recruited. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire composed of three main sections; socio-demographic data of the participants, questions regarding knowledge of EC use and statements assessed attitude and barriers to use EC. Results: The study included 191 women with a response rate of 100% their age ranged between 18 and 49 year old’s with a mean of 31.7 and standard deviation (SD) of ±5.3 years. 78.5% of the participants knew that there is a way to prevent pregnancy in case of having unprotected sex. Internet was the commonest EC source of knowledge (45.4%), followed by doctor or family planning provider (33.4%). Majority of the participants who were aware of the existence of a method to prevent pregnancy in case of an unprotected sex (n=150) knew correctly the time of using emergency contraceptive pills or IUD (99.3% and 92.7%, respectively) though only 16.2% of the studied women reported ever using emergency contraception to prevent pregnancy. Primary school educated women had the highest percentage of the EC attitude score, rank was 128.04 while postgraduate women had the lowest percentage of the score, rank of 24.07), p=0.001. Conclusion: The present study`s results reveal high level of awareness knowledge regarding emergency contraception. However, low utilization was notices mainly due to religious concerns.