Background of the Study
Adolescent pregnancy is a worldwide public health issue; the World Health Organization estimates that 20 000 teenagers under the age of 18 give birth every day. Teenager and adolescent are frequently used interchangeably. According to the World Health Organization (2016), secondary sex characteristics occur between the ages of 10 and 19 years. Tumlinson, Okigbo, and Speizer (2018) observed that factors such as young exposure to sexual content on television, sexuality in the media, pornographic and sex chart rooms may prime teenagers to participate in sexual practices that lead to pregnancy. Surveys conducted by these researchers established that teenagers become sexually active at a young age, with increased fertility as a result, this sometimes lead to teenage pregnancy when uncontrolled.
Recently, in Nigeria, pregnancies among young girls appear to be one of the nation's social challenges. Like other developing countries, over 21 million teenagers aged 15 to 19 get pregnant, resulting in over 3 million unsafe abortions as observed by Ochako, Mwende, Stephen, & Susan et’al (2015). According Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, (2018) the Total Fertility Rate among Nigerian women remains high at 5.3 children with many of these pregnancies occurring in young adult females who are sexually active and engage in illicit sexual activities, resulting in unwanted pregnancies that are frequently aborted. These results to significant consequences such as eclampsia, low birth weight, puerperal endometritis, and infections which all have a substantial role in maternal mortality and morbidity. To curb these menace, the successful availability and uptake of contraception among teenagers becomes a critical way to reducing unwanted pregnancy and improving their health. In support of the need for utilization of contraceptive, Oye-Adeniran, Adewol & Umoh, et’al (2018) asserts that the necessity for contraception among female adolescents and young adults has been highlighted as a result of the country's rapid population growth, which, according to the National Population Commission, reached 198 million in 2017. Conversely, regardless of the fact that many of these teenagers are aware of contraceptive techniques, many adolescent girls who want to avoid pregnancy do not use a contemporary contraceptive technique. In 2018, the majority of young females in Nigeria, 97.1% (married and unmarried), did not use any type of contraception, while just 2.9% are now using at least one method of contraception and only 2.4% are using one form of contemporary contraceptive technique. According to Oye-Adeniran et’al (2018) survey, 22.2 percent of unmarried teenage girls aged 15 to 19 are now utilizing at least one contemporary contraceptive technique, with the majority 2.5 percent and 16.5 percent using the oral contraceptive pill and male condom, respectively. As a result, they have a high rate of unplanned pregnancies, unsafe abortions, HIV, and other STIs . According to a study from the 2018 National AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey (NARHS) in Nigeria, while contraceptive awareness was high, the proportion of females using any technique and a contemporary form of contraception was 13% and 10%, respectively. Available contraceptives as explained by Njoroge (2016) includes pills, intrauterine contraceptive device, injectables, implants, male condom, female condom, male and female sterilization, diaphragm, foam/jelly, lactational ammenorrhoea, and emergency contraception are among the modern contraceptive methods available at the regional and national levels which is often accessible.
Literally, to reduce the number of undesired pregnancies, efforts must be undertaken to boost utilization of contraceptives but when it concerns unmarried adolescence it has been noted that this group's contraception usage is low. Accordint to Garside Ayres & Owen (2020), young people frequently choose not to seek contraception because they do not want their parents or other adults to know they are sexually active, and many are afraid of being ridiculed or disapproved of by service providers. Other factors includes fear of stigma, humiliation, and embarrassment from health care workers, insufficient information about contraception, unexpected sexual behavior, incapacity to negotiate with partners, and provider attitude have all been linked to teenage contraceptive non-use. For example, Ahanonu (2017) asserts that several unmarried adolescents have reported refusing to visit public clinics due to the attitudes of the healthcare staff. While this may be true, Guzzo & Hayford (2018), contends that Bylaws and regulations governing the provision of contraceptive services to adolescents, adolescents' age and civil status, prejudice, discouraging attitude and practise of providers, and healthcare providers' inability to recognize adolescent rights and demands are all factors that preclude adolescents' right to use available contraceptive services. Against these lies the backdrop that prompted the researcher’s interest on this topic.
Statement of the Problem
Healthcare providers (HCPs), together with parents and other educators, have recently been identified as community assets in the prevention of unplanned pregnancy. However, in order for healthcare personnel to perform the essential role that is expected of them, they must have sufficient knowledge and a good attitude about contraceptive use among unmarried teenagers in order to prescribe contraceptives to avoid unwanted pregnancy. Surprisingly, according to Uzuner, Unalan, and Akman, the majority of health practitioners limit teenagers from obtaining any contraceptive technique based on age (58%), parity (41%), and marital status (22%). (2015). According to Baldwin and Edelman (2018), fifty percent of health workers in Nigeria, have a negative attitude about teenage contraception usage because they believe it encourages sexual intercourse at a young age.
Several research on adolescent understanding of contemporary contraceptives indicate that the majority still express worries about the effects of taking contraception at a young age before marriage (Bratlie, Aarvold, Skarn, Lundekvam, Nesheim & Askevold 2018). These beliefs may have stemmed from inadequate contraceptive counselling and poor health-care provider behavior. In order to provide effective strategies that result in decreased unwanted teenage pregnancy internationally, health practitioners must have proper knowledge and an encouraging attitude toward contraception usage among young women. There is a scarcity of literature in Nigeria on healthcare providers' knowledge, attitude, and perspective of delivering contraceptive services to adolescents. Based on this assumption, the study attempts to evaluate health care staff' perceptions and attitudes regarding giving contraception to unmarried teenager in Dabi Bako Health Care Centre, Gwagwalada Area Council.
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