Conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas sobre anticoncepción en estudiantes de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Administrativas de la Universidad de Cuenca, periodo 2023

Abstract

Background: family planning is considered a fundamental pillar in the sexual and reproductive health of human beings, due to its correlation with the decrease in rates of both maternal and perinatal mortality. In this sense, knowledge of the subject, predisposition or attitude and the practices carried out are closely related, so their study is very important when proposing public health policies. Objective: to determine knowledge, attitudes and practices on contraception in students of the Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences of the University of Cuenca in 2023. Methodology: across-sectional descriptive study was carried out, with a sample of 321 research subjects. The questionary developed by Balarezo and Cols (2022, PUCE, Quito-Ecuador) was applied and was based on that of Zúñiga and Cols (2021, Nicaragua), the same that considers the Medical Eligibility Criteria for the Use of Contraceptive Methods issued by the World Health Organization. The information was processed in SPSS 25 (trial version). The results are presented in simple and contingency tables. Results: the study shows that most of the investigated subjects have a bad level of knowledge about contraceptive methods, however, favorable attitudes prevail, while good practices characterize 57.6%. Conclusion: the level of knowledge and practices of the students was bad, recurring more frequently in women. For their part, both groups presented good attitudes.