Socio-demographic Factors’ Effects on Utilization of Emergency Contraceptives among Female Undergraduate Students, University of Kabianga, Kenya
Eliud Ngososei *
Department of Health Services, University of Kabianga, Kericho, Kenya.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Emergency contraception is a practical inhibition method of pregnancy available for sexually active young people. Emergency contraception (EC) is the universal term for defining prevention methods of pregnancy in the first few days after sexual contact to be applied after unintended, unprotected or inadequately protected sex, forced sexual contacts or sexual assault as well as contraceptive failures. The World Health Organization suggests use of contraceptive pills and post-coital intra- uterine device (IUD) insertion for EC. Young people and university students among others constitute an important population cluster under the risk of associating with the use of contraception. Unintended pregnancies amongst students at higher education is becoming a matter of concern among education stakeholders because it affects students’ academic achievement. This study sought to determine the socio-demographic factors’ effects on emergency contraceptives utilization among female undergraduate students at university of Kabianga, Kenya. Cross-sectional study was applied. Study population used was 3803.Sample size of 154 students was used. Stratified random sampling was used to determine the selected sample. Students were stratified as per the year of study; each year of study constituted a strata. The sample proportionate to the year of study and campus was picked. Data was obtained by use of self-administered questionnaires. Bivariate analysis was applied to test association between socio-demographic factors and utilization of emergency contraceptives by use of chi-square test at 5%. In multivariate analysis the independent variable were performed by regressing age, year of study, religion, marital status and place of residence were regressed against utilization of emergency contraception using logistic regressions. There was statistical association among age, study year and utilization of EC because their p-values of 0.015 and 0.002 were less than 0.05. The result of the study showed that there was no statistical association among religion, place of residence, marital status and utilization of EC because their p-values of 0.998, 0.110 and 0.084 were greater than 0.05.It was concluded in the study that female undergraduate students’ age and year of study associated with the utilization of emergency conceptives.
Keywords: Socio demographic factors, utilization, emergency contraceptives and female undergraduate students