Knowledge and practices of contraceptive methods in a university population in 2010. A descriptive study

Introduction: Birth control is an important element of Sexual and Reproductive Health as it allows couples to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights, in order to decide in a responsible way the number of children and the spacing between them. According to the National Demographic and Health Survey of 2010, in Colombia the knowledge that university students have about contraceptive methods, and to identify its way of use will show flaws regarding this topic, which will allow the creation of strategies to overcome those flaws. Methods: A transversal descriptive quantitative study was conducted with students of the undergraduate programs in-person of the University of Cauca from the second academic period 2010, a population of 14.000 students. With the software Epi Info V.6 a sample of 600 students was calculated. The sampling type is multistage, which included stratified sampling by proportional assignation and random simple. A semi-structured interview was used, which included sociodemographic data, sexual behavior, knowledge and use of contraceptive methods. For the tabulation and analysis of data, the statistic package SPSS 14.0 was used. Results: Of 600 students who participated, 51.5% correspond to male students and 48.5% to female students; the average age was 22.27, with standard deviation of 3.9 and a range of 32 (15-47). From the social security system, 43.2% belonged to the contributive scheme, 25.2% subsidized and 10.8 to affiliate. 89.3% had started having sexual relations, from which 83.1 declared that they have used a contraceptive method. The most used method was the barrier 43 and the less used were the natural methods 0.7; 29.8% declared that they use several methods. 88% had a deficient knowledge. Discussion: Despite that in Colombia there have been many birth control programs, also campaigns to promote the exercise of sexual and reproductive rights, and to allow access to information and contraceptive methods, this has not been enough to guarantee the knowledge and appropriate use of such methods. It is suggested to create politics and strategies to fill the knowledge gap and to guarantee and optimal use of contraceptive methods