Determining Factors For The Choice Of A Contraceptive Method In An Adolescent Population In Colombia

Contraceptive use can not only prevent pregnancy-related health risks for women, especially adolescent girls, but also, when the interval between births is less than two years, the infant mortality rate is 44% higher than when the interval is 2 to 3 years, and 64% higher than when the interval is 4 years or more, so the use of adequate contraception would reduce these figures and also provides many other potential non-health benefits, including providing more educational opportunities for women, as well as providing sustainable population growth and economic development for the country [3]. The combination of sex education and the large number of contraceptives currently available play an important role in the prevention of unwanted pregnancy in adolescents, however different studies show that only about 20%-30% of adolescents report having received some type of sex education or having used some type of contraceptive during their sexual life [6-8] The objective of this study was to identify those determining factors when selecting a contraceptive method by adolescents and their reasons for choosing or rejecting each of the available methods and their knowledge. Materials and Methods This is an analytical cross-sectional study, carried out in a population of adolescents in a municipality in Colombia, with the availability of a wide variety of contraceptive methods, including oral contraceptives, injectable, subcutaneous implants, copper type T intrauterine device and condoms. In this study it was observed that the contraceptive methods best known by adolescents are pills, injections, condom, IUD and implant, data that agree with the tindings made in the national demographic survey in health in 2010, The contraceptive pill and the monthly injectable were the contraceptive methods most used by adolescents evaluated in our study, In the same way, certain determining factors were found when choosing a contraceptive method, among which the effectiveness in avoiding pregnancies and protection against sexually transmitted diseases stood out [26].