Factors Influencing Contraceptive Use among Adolescents in the Sunyani West District.

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescents access and correct usage of contraceptives is low leading to unwanted pregnancies which has multiple adverse effect on the adolescent such as teenage pregnancies and early motherhood, sexually transmitted infections, family and community especially in Ghana. Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the factors influencing contraceptive use by adolescents in the Sunyani West District. Methods: The study adopted a cross sectional study using self- administered questionnaires. Two hundred and sixty seven adolescents were sampled which required their knowledge, access, sexual behaviors and use of contraceptives. Descriptive bivariate and multivarite analysis were used for associations between the dependent variable and the independent variables. Results: Knowledge was high 246 (92.13%) but use of contraceptive was low 81 (45.6%). Additionally, reasons for contraceptive use included to avoid pregnancy (71.7%), to prevent sexually transmitted infections (21.1%) and to delay childbirth (7.2%). The study found a significant association between contraceptive use and other factors such as sex education at school, having a sexual partner, had sex before, duration and frequency of sex and influence on contraceptive use. Conclusion: Based on the findings that was obtained, the study recommends that interventions such as providing reproductive health education, training and developing adolescent friendly health services by service providers to promote and improve contraceptive use among adolescents.