Understanding women's knowledge and attitudes toward the use of emergency contraceptive methods at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Background: Emergency contraception (EC) is an effective and safe choice for preventing unintended pregnancies if taken within the first 4 to 5 days. The review of existing literature indicates that EC options are often underused globally, primarily due to insufficient awareness among women.

Aim: To determine the knowledge and attitude toward the use of EC methods among women at Primary Health Care Centers (PHCCs) at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC)-Jeddah.

Materials and methods: This is a questionnaire-based, cross-sectional observational study. It was conducted among women of the reproductive age group (18-55 years) who visited the PHCCs at KAMC-J, Saudi Arabia from 1^st of December 2023 to 31^st of May 2024.

Statistical analysis: The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 29 was used.

Results: A total of 378 women took part in the study. The majority (47.6%) were aged between 26 and 35 years and 38.4% reported that they had no knowledge of EC and 61.6% reported they had knowledge about ER. The major source of knowledge was the Internet. (81.0%) reported their physician had not discussed EC with them and only 12.4% (47 participants) reported such a discussion, whereas 6.6% (25 participants) were unsure. Only a small percentage of participants (5.0%) reported having used EC. A significant association was found between knowledge about EC and several factors.

Conclusion: This study showed that many participants at PHCCs at KAMC-J had insufficient knowledge of EC, with the Internet being the most common source of information. Demographic factors, such as age, marital status, education level, employment, number of children, income, and being a healthcare worker, were significantly associated with the level of EC knowledge.