Knowledge About Contraceptives in Medical Students
Abstract:
Background: The low prevalence of family planning may be due to multiple factors, including limited access to information, which leads to the need for programs to be carried out by adequately trained personnel.
Aim: Determine the level of knowledge about contraceptive methods in medical students (clinical cycle) at a private university in Antioquia, Colombia.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study carried out during the first semester of 2021 in 152 students enrolled between the fifth and tenth semester of medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of the San Martín University Foundation, Sabaneta headquarters, who completed an instrument composed of a test of knowledge about contraceptive methods (30 questions distributed in 4 categories) and a self-assessment questionnaire about your level of knowledge on the topic. Two analyses of variance (ANOVA) were carried out to compare the average percentages of correct answers in the knowledge test according to the semester and the average percentages of correct answers, regardless of the semester, in the four established categories.
Results: The overall success rate for the knowledge test was 61.30%; the best score was obtained in the tenth semester with 63.30%, and the semesters with the lowest performance were the seventh and eighth, both with 59.70%. In the self-assessment part, 50.10% reported having good knowledge about oral contraceptives, 55.40% in barrier methods, and 38.70% in emergency methods.
Conclusion: The knowledge of medical students about contraceptive methods is insufficient for someone who will practice as a health professional in the future. Therefore, the San Martín University Foundation must design and implement strategies to improve their knowledge level in this regard so that, during their clinical practice, they can provide better education on this topic
