KNOWLEDGE ATTITUDE AND PERCEPTION ABOUT CONTRACEPTIVES IN FEMALES: A QUANTITATIVE INSIGHT

Introduction: In India, the risk of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions remains high due to relatively low contraceptive use. There is deficiency of data on knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and practices towards modern contraceptives, sexual and reproductive health especially among the young female students. Methods and Materials: A survey was conducted onfemales of Meerut region, Uttar Pradesh during February 2019-May 2019. Questionnaire was prepared including knowledge, attitude and perception-based questions and data was collected from females who provided data on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and use of contraceptives, as well as other sexual and reproductive health practices. Results and Discussion: A total of 83 females responded to the survey; median (IQR) age was 20-25 years, 51.8% in firstyear of study, and nearly three quarters (79.5%) were of Hindu’s faith. Knowledge of any contraceptives was almost universal (99.6 %) but only 22.8 % knew about tubal ligation.  In terms of natural methods of contraception known, only (43.3%) were aware about the withdrawal and calendar method of contraception while (33.7%) has knowledge of Lactational amenorrhea method. 68.6%reported lack of knowledge for not using contraception.Overall, 20.4 % reported current contraceptive use, with male condoms being the commonest methods. Overall, 61.4% reported pressure by partner was the reason for the unwanted pregnancy18% ever being pregnant. About 9.63 % of ever pregnant respondents reported ever trying to terminate the pregnancy.