Exploring Contraceptive Knowledge and Attitudes among Adolescents in Ahoada West Local Government Area

This study investigated the knowledge of contraceptive among adolescents in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State. 3 hypothesis tested at 0.5 level of significance guided the study. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. A sample of 300 respondents was selected using multistage sampling procedure. The questionnaire made of section A, which concentrated on socio-demographic characteristics of respondents and B, emphasized knowledge of contraceptives validated by 3 experts in reproductive health. The reliability of the instrument was determined with the test-re-test and the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient of 0.75 was obtained. The results of the study were; gender significantly influences adolescent knowledge of contraceptive (df = 1, X2 = 6.538, P = 0.00). Age significantly influences adolescent knowledge of contraceptive, (df = 1, X2 = 15.495, P = 0.00) and that religion significantly influences adolescents knowledge of contraceptives (df = 1, X2 =68.7, P = 0.00). Based on the findings of the study some recommendations were made, which included; teachers and parents should give relevant sexuality education to adolescents before their engaging in sexual activities and the government should put in legislations emphasizing free access to contraceptive health services for adolescent especially in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State.