Utilization Of Contraceptives Among Undergraduate Students In Masinde Muliro University Of Science And Technology (Mmust)

ABSTRACT

Contraceptives uptake among the youth has been a sensitive and controversial issue in the

society that has resulted to various social problems that include unwanted pregnancies

and sexual transmitted infections among others. This calls for intervention measures that

will promote contraceptive use in order to reduce unwanted pregnancies, sexual

transmitted diseases and slow down the spread of HIV/AIDS among university students.

The main objective of this study was to determine the utilization of contraceptives among

undergraduate students in MMUST. Specifically, the study sought to determine the extent

of contraceptive utilization, establish the influence of social relation on contraceptive

utilization and examine the effect of addictive behavior on uptake of contraceptives.

Quantitative research method which is contextual in nature was used for the study.

Stratified random sampling was used to identify 453 undergraduate students from

MMUST who participated in the study. Quantitative data was analyzed using both

descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics including frequencies and

percentages were used to organize data and information for further analysis. Logistic

regression analysis was performed to determine the association between the variables.

The study revealed that contraceptive prevalence rate among the undergraduate students

was 62.7% and majority (25.4%) of the users sought the services from government health

facilities. The study also demonstrated that knowledge of contraceptive methods among

the undergraduate students was 90% and condoms were the most preferred method

(75.6%) followed by pills (15.1%). Electronic media was found to be the most popular

(40.1%) source of contraceptive information. Age of respondents and the age at which

the respondents left high school was found to have a significant influence on

contraceptive utilization (OR=1.43: 95%CI=1.02-2.14, p