Myths and Misconceptions about Contraceptive Use among Unmarried Sexually Active Adolescents in the Ellembelle District

Abstract

Introduction Unplanned pregnancies among adolescent contribute greatly to maternal morbidity and mortality among adolescents. In Ghana, about 30% of all pregnancies are unintended with significantly higher prevalence among adolescents. This phenomenon has a negative impact on adolescents with regards to education, health and other societal challenges. Myths and misconceptions about the usefulness of condoms and other modern contraceptives still expose many unmarried adolescents to the risk of unwanted teenage pregnancies and sexually-transmitted infections. This study explored the myths and misconceptions about contraceptive use among unmarried sexually active adolescents in the Elle belle District Methods This qualitative study used phenomenological cross-sectional study design to explore young people’s knowledge, myths and misconceptions and barriers to contraceptive use among sexually active adolescents. Purposive sampling technique was used to select study participants for the study. A total of sixteen (16) respondents were interviewed before saturation of information was reached. This current study yielded 83 new codes. These codes combine and yielded eleven (11) sub- themes. The themes were knowledge on modern contraceptives, contraception myths and misconceptions and barriers to contraceptive use. Results The findings indicated good knowledge of modern contraceptives among adolescents, although knowledge on specific types of contraceptives was limited. Myths and misconceptions associated with contraceptive use were observed to emanate from individual beliefs, social/societal/peer influences, and from health care workers. The predominant myths and misconceptions shared by adolescents involved in this study were infertility, fibroid, delayed child birth and birth defects in newborn babies. These misconceptions were identified to serve as barriers to utilization of modern contraceptives alongside parental restrictions, limited knowledge, financial constraints and poor relational expressions from health care provide Conclusion The results of this study has indicated that adolescents have some extent of knowledge on contraception which is in a good direction. Moreover, Swift measure ought to be taken to address issues of misconception which seems to cut across the response of many adolescent. It is therefore necessary for Ghana Health Service and Ghana Education service to collaborate to draft achievable intervention in schools to deal with misconceptions.