Contraceptive knowledge and attitudes among 14–24‐year‐olds in New South Wales, Australia
Abstract Objectives: To investigate correlates of contraceptive knowledge and attitudes and describe differences in contraceptive knowledge by contraceptive category among young people in New South Wales. Methods: A total of 119 young people aged 14 to 24, recruited from youth centres, completed a c...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12367 |
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doaj-567aa6dcee854dec8af3466f4d6268142020-11-24T21:32:33ZengWileyAustralian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health1326-02001753-64052015-06-0139326726910.1111/1753-6405.12367Contraceptive knowledge and attitudes among 14–24‐year‐olds in New South Wales, AustraliaTodd Ritter0Anne Dore1Kevin McGeechan2Family Planning New South WalesFamily Planning New South WalesFamily Planning New South WalesAbstract Objectives: To investigate correlates of contraceptive knowledge and attitudes and describe differences in contraceptive knowledge by contraceptive category among young people in New South Wales. Methods: A total of 119 young people aged 14 to 24, recruited from youth centres, completed a contraceptive knowledge and attitude survey. Results: Overall contraceptive knowledge was low. Females had significantly better knowledge than males. There was high knowledge about condoms and withdrawal and low knowledge about shorter‐term hormonal methods (oral contraceptive pill and vaginal ring) and long‐acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods. Nearly half of respondents agreed that ‘contraceptives make sex seem less romantic’, while 58% agreed that ‘contraceptives are difficult to use’. Despite this, both genders had positive attitudes to contraception, with females’ attitudes significantly more positive than males. Conclusions and implications: While young people, particularly young women, expressed attitudes conducive to contraceptive use, many are unaware of basic facts about methods, including highly effective LARC. Our findings reflect the modest reproductive and sexual health education received by Australian young people and cultural norms of condoms and oral contraceptives as default methods and highlight the need to improve knowledge, among young men, in particular, about the most effective contraceptive methods.https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12367youth reproductive healthcontraceptive knowledgecontraceptive attitudeunintended pregnancy |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Todd Ritter Anne Dore Kevin McGeechan |
spellingShingle |
Todd Ritter Anne Dore Kevin McGeechan Contraceptive knowledge and attitudes among 14–24‐year‐olds in New South Wales, Australia Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health youth reproductive health contraceptive knowledge contraceptive attitude unintended pregnancy |
author_facet |
Todd Ritter Anne Dore Kevin McGeechan |
author_sort |
Todd Ritter |
title |
Contraceptive knowledge and attitudes among 14–24‐year‐olds in New South Wales, Australia |
title_short |
Contraceptive knowledge and attitudes among 14–24‐year‐olds in New South Wales, Australia |
title_full |
Contraceptive knowledge and attitudes among 14–24‐year‐olds in New South Wales, Australia |
title_fullStr |
Contraceptive knowledge and attitudes among 14–24‐year‐olds in New South Wales, Australia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Contraceptive knowledge and attitudes among 14–24‐year‐olds in New South Wales, Australia |
title_sort |
contraceptive knowledge and attitudes among 14–24‐year‐olds in new south wales, australia |
publisher |
Wiley |
series |
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health |
issn |
1326-0200 1753-6405 |
publishDate |
2015-06-01 |
description |
Abstract Objectives: To investigate correlates of contraceptive knowledge and attitudes and describe differences in contraceptive knowledge by contraceptive category among young people in New South Wales. Methods: A total of 119 young people aged 14 to 24, recruited from youth centres, completed a contraceptive knowledge and attitude survey. Results: Overall contraceptive knowledge was low. Females had significantly better knowledge than males. There was high knowledge about condoms and withdrawal and low knowledge about shorter‐term hormonal methods (oral contraceptive pill and vaginal ring) and long‐acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods. Nearly half of respondents agreed that ‘contraceptives make sex seem less romantic’, while 58% agreed that ‘contraceptives are difficult to use’. Despite this, both genders had positive attitudes to contraception, with females’ attitudes significantly more positive than males. Conclusions and implications: While young people, particularly young women, expressed attitudes conducive to contraceptive use, many are unaware of basic facts about methods, including highly effective LARC. Our findings reflect the modest reproductive and sexual health education received by Australian young people and cultural norms of condoms and oral contraceptives as default methods and highlight the need to improve knowledge, among young men, in particular, about the most effective contraceptive methods. |
topic |
youth reproductive health contraceptive knowledge contraceptive attitude unintended pregnancy |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12367 |
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AT toddritter contraceptiveknowledgeandattitudesamong1424yearoldsinnewsouthwalesaustralia AT annedore contraceptiveknowledgeandattitudesamong1424yearoldsinnewsouthwalesaustralia AT kevinmcgeechan contraceptiveknowledgeandattitudesamong1424yearoldsinnewsouthwalesaustralia |
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