Sexual Behaviour and Contraceptive Use in Tertiary Educational Institutions: A Case Study of the University Of Ghana, Legon

Abstract

The study was a cross-sectional study of students of the University of Ghana, Legan. The objective was to determine sexual behaviour, knowledge and use of contraceptives among these students. The methods or techniq ues used included: I) Focus group discussion involving students, heads of hostel, service providers and key informants. II) A cross-sectional survey of 507 undergraduate students was done using structured questionnaire . FINDINGS: The fi ndings indicate that a substantial proportion (52%) of the students have ever had sexual intercourse with the males (6 l.2%) outnumbering the fema les (38 .6%). The mean age at first sexual experience is 18.7 years and the median age is 19 years. The mean ages at first sex for the males and females are 18.4 years and 19.3 years re ~ pectivel y with the median ages being 19 years and 20 years respectively. More males than females have multip le sexual partners, and have had sex in the last 30 days. The respondents who have ever been pregnant are 42 (15.9%) and 28 (66%) of these pregnancies are aborted . Level of awareness abo ut contraceptives was 100% with the male condom bei ng the most commonly known (95.6%) and used method followed by the pill The students who have ever used contraceptives were 92.1 % but only 41 .2% always used them. Most (87.1 %) of the students have ever used a condom but of these. only 59 % always use condoms during sexual intercourse with a new partner. The mean age at first condom use is 19.6 years. The minimum age at first sex is 8 years whiles the minimum age at first condom use is 13 years meaning that, some students could be exposed to pregnancies and STDs including HIV / AIDS . The female respondents who have never bought condoms are about 4 times as many as their male counterparts. Although majority of the males (71 %) and females (51 %) admit that contraceptives are affordable and accessible their use of contraceptives was not consistent. Logistic regression analysis revealed that, factors that are significantly re lated to contraceptive use among students are: Being a male student, having benefited from sex education programmes on campus as well as residing in a mixed sex Hall/hostel. From these finding, it is recommended that the University authorities adopt a more holistic approach in organizing sex education programmes for students paying attention to culture and gender differences.

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Thesis (MPh.) - University of Ghana, 2008

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