Factors that influence adolescent on the use of contraceptives in the dreams project, Khomas region Namibia
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Date
2025
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University of Namibia
Abstract
Contraceptive use is crucial for preventing unintended pregnancies and sexually
transmitted infections (STIs) among adolescents. However, low contraceptive uptake
in Sub-Saharan Africa remains a significant public health concern. The study fit a
binary logistics model, to explore fctors influencing contraceptive use among
adolescents in the DREAMS project within the Khomas Region, Namibia, to identify
and analyze the demographic, social, and economic factors associated with
contraceptive use among adolescents, to evaluate the associations between adolescent
knowledge and attitude levels regarding contraceptives and their actual contraceptive
use. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among 359 adolescent girls
(aged 15-19 years) in the Khomas region, Namibia. A bivariate and binary logistic
regression analysis assessed the association between factors and contraceptive use.
The results showed that adolescents’ age, occupation level, method of contraceptive
use, reason for not using contraceptives and parent’s awareness on the use of
contraceptives were associated with contraceptive use. The results also showed that
living arrangements, particularly living with one parent, were associated with higher
contraceptive use. The results further showed that parental awareness of their child's
contraceptive use was positively associated with actual use. In addition, the result
showed that there was a significant difference between those who discussed the
contraceptive methods with their health provider. Contraceptive use among adolescent
girls exhibits strong significant association, even though some demographic,
instructional, and other factors were not associated with contraceptive use. Similar
studies in the future need to consider reasons behind specific living arrangement
influences and delve deeper into the dynamics of partner and family communication
Description
A theses submitted in Partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Public Health
Keywords
Adolescents, Contraptives, DREAM Project, Namibia, University of Namibia