Factors Influencing the Uptake of Emergency Pills among Postpartum Mothers in Gulu Regional Referral Hospital.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess and analyze the factors influencing the uptake of emergency pills among postpartum mothers in Gulu regional referral hospital.

Methodology: The study was conducted among 386 postpartum mothers in Gulu regional referral hospital using a descriptive cross-sectional study design. respondents was done using purposive sampling method obtaining data on sociodemographic factors, health facility factors and individual factors influencing the uptake of emergency pills. SPSS version 16.0 was used to analyze the data.

Results: Findings obtained by the descriptive analysis of the 386 respondents showed that educational level, employment status and monthly income were significantly associated with the uptake of emergency pills. All the health facility factors and individual factors were significantly associated with the uptake of emergency pills except the opinion about emergency pills. Among the 386 postpartum mothers who were interviewed, 22/386 (5.70%) had ever used emergency pills whereas 364/386 (94.5%) never used emergency pills.

Conclusion: The uptake of emergency pills among the postpartum mothers was low (5.70%) and depended mainly on: educational level, employment status, monthly income, having ever heard about ECP, knowledge that ECP is the same as abortion pills, knowing the recommended time limit for taking emergency pills, knowing the situations in which to use ECP, distance, availability of ECP, availability of health education on ECP and the attitudes of the health workers.

Recommendations: Due to the very low uptake of emergency pills, constant sensitization to create awareness about emergency pills among the community is very vital and strengthening girl child education to reduce the prevalence of unsafe abortions resulting from unwanted pregnancies.