A Study to Assess the Knowledge and Attitude on Prevention of Self-Medications for Abortion among Reproductive Age Women in Rural Area at Puducherry with A View to Develop an Information Module

Abstract

Unsafe abortion is a significant reason of maternal mortality and morbidity in the globe. Most unsafe abortion occurs where abortion is illegal, or in the developing countries where affordable well-trained medical practitioner are not readily available, or where modern contraceptives are unavailable. The effects of abortions are hemorrhage, infection and injury to the genital organs. The objectives were to assess the knowledge and attitude on prevention of self-medication for abortion among reproductive age women, to correlate the knowledge and attitude on prevention of self-medication for abortion among reproductive age women, to associate the knowledge and attitude with selected demographic variables. The Quantitative research approach and descriptive research design was used for this study and 60 samples were selected from Ariyankuppam by convenient sampling technique and the data were collected by using knowledge and attitude questionnaire. The result revealed that, 8 (13.3%) women had adequate knowledge level, 38 (63.3%) women had moderate level of knowledge and 14 (23.3%) women had inadequate knowledge level regarding prevention of self-medication for abortion. It shows that the majority of the samples had moderate level of knowledge. Out of 60 samples, Majority of samples 40 (66.6%) had positive attitude and 20 (33.4%) negative attitude on prevention of self-medication for abortion. There was a positive correlation between the knowledge and attitude. The demographic variables like occupation and previous history of abortion had a significant association with knowledge and attitude respectively.