Medicine
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This repository contains the published and unpublished research of the Faculty of Medicine by the staff members of the faculty
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Item Do our Advanced Level students have satisfactory knowledge and attitudes related to contraception?(Sri Lanka Medical Association., 2019) Weerasinghe, W.M.S.P.S.; Weerakoon, H.P.P.G.; Weerarathna, W.G.M.M.H.; Weerasinghe, W.M.L.J.; Weerasinghe, W.M.A.E.; Weerasooriya, M.P.S.R.; Perera, K.M.N.INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVES: Advanced level (AIL) students, shortly leaving school to a new life, are older than 16 years, the legal age to consent for sexual activities. Inadequate knowledge on contraception can lead to unprotected sex and serious negative effects including teenage pregnancies, criminal abortions and sexually transmitted diseases. We aimed to assess knowledge and attitudes on contraception among AIL students in Gampaha educational zone and selected factors associated. METHODS: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted among 275 A/L students attending Gampaha tuition classes, selected using a multistage sampling method. A self-administered questionnaire was used. Knowledge and attitudes were analyzed using descriptive statistics and knowledge of different sub groups were compared using one-way ANOVA. RESULTS: A total of 277 (Male; 118,42.6%; Female; 159,57.4%) participated in the study. Knowledge was low for all methods; Pills (M=l .4, SD=1.7, Max=7), condoms (M=l.4; SD=1.2; Max=4), injectables (M=0.4;SD=0.8;Max=7), emergency methods (M=0.8;SD=0.9;Max=4), permanent methods (M=1.0; SD=1.0; Max=3). Male students (F=30.34;p<0.001) and Biology streams students (F=130.42;p<0.001) displayed significantly higher knowledge than others. Majority showed positive attitudes towards use, even though 16.7% (n=46; N=275) thought using contraceptives is a sin and 16.2% (n=44;N=272) stated their use would depend on the partner. The majority (76.7%;n=214;N=274) thought contraceptives should be taught in school. For all methods (N=545), social media was the commonest source of knowledge (n=95, 17.4%) and parents were the least common (n=16,2.9%). CONCLUSION: The level of knowledge was unsatisfactory even though majority displayed positive attitudes towards contraception. Social media can be effectively used to address the knowledge gap.Item Do teenager prefer contraception or termination?(Sri Lanka College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, 2007) Herath, H.M.R.P.; Dias, T.D.; Amarasinghe, W.L.INTRODUCTION: Teenage pregnancy is universal in all known societies past and present. One in four girls in the world becomes a mother before the age of 19 years. In Sri Lanka, 22.2% of maternal deaths due to illegal abortions were in this age group during 1996. Lack of knowledge regarding contraceptive methods is thought to be the main reason for not practicing proper contraception. On the other hand information about domestic violence in families with teenage mother is scares. OBJECTIVES: To describe the use of contraception, attempted pregnancy terminations and violence against women during the pregnancy among teenage mothers delivered at Teaching Hospital Peradeniya. METHOD: A prospective descriptive study was done on teenage mothers who delivered at teaching hospital Peradeniya from 1st of April 2005 to 31st of March, 2006, using interviewer administered questionnaire. RESULTS: There were 190 teenage mothers delivered during the study period. Data was collected from 186 of them. Among these teenage mothers Only 3(1.6%) has studied above GCE ordinary level. Only 28% ofwomen of the group have used any form of contraception, and of which 64% has used barrier methods of contraception. 80 (43%) of teenage mothers had thought of future contraception before they were discharged from the hospital. Termination of the pregnancy has been attempted by 9.1% of the study population. Of those who had'attempted termination 82.4% had not used any form of contraception. Male partners have assaulted 16.1% of teenage mothers during the pregnancy. CONCLUSION: The teenage pregnant mothers have poor educational background. The contraceptive use in the population was very low leading to unnecessary pregnancies and termination of pregnancies. Domestic violence in this population is fairly common.