Women’s Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Hormonal Contraceptive Methods in Omdurman Maternity Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan 2015–2016

Abstract

Hormonal contraceptive is the most popular form of contraception and it is available by prescription and comes in either a combination of estrogen and progestin or progestin alone. Most women use hormonal contraceptive pills. Approximately, 25% of women aged 15–44 who currently use contraception reported using the pill as their method of choice. The most commonly prescribed pill is the combined hormonal pill with estrogen and progesterone. Progesterone is the hormone that prevents pregnancy and the estrogen component controls menstrual bleeding. Birth control pills are primarily used to prevent pregnancy. A descriptive hospital-based study was conducted for assessing women’s knowledge regarding oral contraceptive pills in Omdurman Maternity Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan. The sample size consisted of 90 women in the antenatal unit during the period of study. Data was collected by a questionnaire designed by the researcher. Data analysis was performed by SPSS version 16. The results revealed that 63.4% mentioned the goodness of contraceptive pills, and 86.7% knowledgeable about specific times for using pills daily, 45.8% of the study sample responded with correct answers regarding types of hormonal contraception. 84.4% of the study sample responded correctly regarding the definition of family planning, and 32.2% of them responded correctly regarding the definition of hormonal contraception, 72.2% of the study sample responded with correct answers regarding the definition of pills. 50% of the study sample responded with correct answers regarding headache as side effects of oral contraceptive pills. 54.4% of the study sample responded with correct answers regarding cardiac problems as contraindications of using oral contraceptive pills. 50% of the study sample responded with correct answers regarding the advantages of oral contraceptive pills, 63.4% of the study sample used oral contraceptive pills before. The study concluded that women’s knowledge regarding oral contraceptive pills was inadequate. The study recommended that educational programs for women about oral contraceptive pills must be done, and a booklet about oral contraceptive pills must be designed and made available for women in the hospitals.