A brief study on the knowledge and choice of contraception methods in married adolescent girls

INTRODUCTION: The fertility rate is 0.25% for 15-19-year-old girls and 16% for 19-year-old girls who are mothers or pregnant with their first child. Fifty-two percent of married adolescents did not have affective contraception. To encourage using the right contraceptive methods in married adolescents, it is essential to examine the behaviors of this group, the level of contraceptive knowledge and the choices they make regarding contraceptive use. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and ten married adolescent females, less than 20 years of age, who visited a gynecology and obstetrics clinic between January 2015 and October 2016 were enrolled in this prospective study. RESULTS: Of them 96.4% were unemployed. At the time of the study, 70% of them were pregnant. Of these pregnancies, 46.4% was a first, 19.1% a second and 8.2% a third pregnancy. The abortion rate in this study was 18.3%, and stillbirth was 2.8%. The interval between pregnancies was 20.9 months. The unplanned pregnancy rate was 45.5% and 37.3% of these unplanned pregnancies resulted in at least one healthy child. The most common contraceptive method was the use of condoms (10.9%). Changes in contraceptive methods resulted in pregnancy in 66.7% of the cases. Although 20.9% of the husbands in the study used contraceptive methods, 40.9% of them felt that their husbands should be using contraception. Of the participants 43.5% received their knowledge regarding family planning and contraceptive methods from local health clinics. DISCUSSION: Teen marriage, pregnancy and teen parents result in socio-economic and educational difficulties. It is essential to support the adolescent parents using affective contraceptive methods and adolescent-friendly health clinics.