Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Intension of Health Science Students Toward Safe Abortion Care Provision in Debre Markose University, Ethiopia,
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Date
2011-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: Negative attitudes toward abortion among professionals providing abortion services could be an obstacle even under a law which permits abortion on request. The shortage of health care providers who are willing or trained to perform abortions undermines the provisions of safe abortion services, by limiting the availability of safe, legal abortion, and has serious implications for women's access to abortion services and health service planning.
Objective: The aim of this study is to assess knowledge, attitudes and intension of DMU Health Science student toward safe abortion provision.
Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional institution based study was conducted to examine knowledge, attitude and intension of health science students (n=190) to provide safe abortion care services using pretested standard questionnaire at Debre Markose University.
Result: Respondents were asked whether unsafe abortion is one of the major health problems in their country. Out of all respondents, 94.2% said that it was a major health problem. 65.3% agreed that they are more comfortable with medical abortion than with surgical abortion. Large majority of respondents 89.0% reported that they were not plan to perform abortion for their patients regardless of their reason for terminating a pregnancy.
Discussion: More intension to provide medical abortion and surgical abortion in this study might have been the perception of students considering that higher magnitude of the problem of unsafe abortion in our country and the need of safe abortion care providers to solve maternal morbidity and mortality from unsafe abortion.
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Conclusion and recommendation: Very surprisingly majority of students in this study have willingness to seek abortion care training. Although it may not be possible or desirable to require abortion training for every future health care provider separately, making safe abortion care training a standard part of the curriculum will open avenues for both future nurses and health officer who are in favor of providing safe abortion care services. More important, expanding abortion training in the allied health professions will likely alleviate the abortion provider shortage throughout Ethiopia.
Key word: Attitude, Intension, safe abortion provision, medical abortion, surgical abortion
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Attitude, Intension, safe abortion provision, medical abortion, surgical abortion