Knowledge, attitudes and practices of reproductive health care among first year students in healthcare major at Dai Nam University, in 2022

Abstract

A cross - sectional study was conducted on 336 first-year students who major in healthcare at Dai Nam University in the academic year 2021 - 2022. The purpose of the study was to investigate the students’ knowledge, attitudes and practices of reproductive health care. The results show that the percentages of students with poor knowledge, attitudes and practices on reproductive health care were fairly low (the figures for knowledge was 46.8%, attitudes was 32.3%, and practice was 42.5%). There were 52.7% of students who believe that sex before marriage is normal, and 63.7% think that pregnancy before marriage is acceptable. The percentage of students who engaged in sexual activities was 16.1%, 16.7% of which did not use any contraceptive method. The percentage of female students with good knowledge, attitudes, and practices of reproductive health care was higher in comparison with male students (p < 0.01). There is a need to enhance the communication and education in reproductive health for students, especially with a particular focus on promoting education for male students to improve their reproductive health care awareness.