Birth control knowledge among freshmen of four Italian universities

Abstract Since sexual health education (SHE) is not mandatory in Italian schools, we conducted a survey on freshmen of four Italian university campuses in 2012 to investigate the respective level of sexual health knowledge (SHK) in relation to birth control, with the aim to inform public health poli...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	L. Cegolon, M. Bortolotto, S. Bellizzi, A. Cegolon, G. Mastrangelo, C. Xodo
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2020
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/596439d1ef8444009908a51ded8e0301
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:596439d1ef8444009908a51ded8e0301
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:596439d1ef8444009908a51ded8e03012021-12-02T18:37:07ZBirth control knowledge among freshmen of four Italian universities10.1038/s41598-020-72200-62045-2322https://doaj.org/article/596439d1ef8444009908a51ded8e03012020-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72200-6https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Since sexual health education (SHE) is not mandatory in Italian schools, we conducted a survey on freshmen of four Italian university campuses in 2012 to investigate the respective level of sexual health knowledge (SHK) in relation to birth control, with the aim to inform public health policy makers. A convenience strategy was employed to sample 4,552 freshmen registered with various undergraduate courses at four Italian universities: Padua university (Veneto Region); university of Milan (Lombardy Region); university of Bergamo (Lombardy Region); university of Palermo (Sicily Region). We investigated the level of SHK on birth control using 6 proxy indicators: (1) the average length of a woman’s period [outcome with 3 levels: wrong (base) vs. acceptable vs. correct]; (2) the most fertile interval within a woman’s period (binary outcome: correct vs. wrong answer); (3) the event between the end of a period and the beginning of the next cycle (binary outcome: correct vs. wrong answer); (4) the average survival of spermatozoa in the womb (binary outcome: correct vs. wrong answer); (5) the concept of contraception (binary outcome: correct vs. wrong answer); (6) the efficacy of various contraceptives to prevent unintended pregnancies (linear score: 0–17). We fitted 6 separate models of multiple regression: multinomial for outcome 1; logistic for outcomes 2, 3, 4, 6; linear for outcome 6. Statistical estimates were adjusted for a number of socio-demographic factors. Results were expressed as odds ratios (OR) for the 4 multiple logistic regression models, linear coefficients (RC) for the linear regression model and relative risk ratio (RRR) for the multinomial logistic regression model. The level of significance of each risk estimate was set at 0.05. The level of SHK of freshmen sampled was rather low, as 60% interviewees did not know the average length of a woman’s period, the average survival of spermatozoa in the womb and the concept of contraception, whilst the most fertile interval within a woman’s period was known only to 55% of interviewees. The mean score of SHK on the efficacy of various contraceptive methods was only 5 (scale 0–17). Some categories of students were consistently and significantly less knowledgeable on birth control at multivariable analysis: males; students from the university of Palermo; those with vocational secondary school education and those not in a romantic relationship at the time the survey was conducted. The results of this survey clearly call for the introduction of SHE programs in Italian schools, as already done in several European countries. School SHE should start as early as possible, ideally even before secondary school. SHE should be holistic and delivered with a multiple agency coordinated approach involving the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, University and Scientific Research (MIUR), families, schools, public health departments, primary health care providers, pharmacists, media, other.L. CegolonM. BortolottoS. BellizziA. CegolonG. MastrangeloC. XodoNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-16 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q L. Cegolon M. Bortolotto S. Bellizzi A. Cegolon G. Mastrangelo C. Xodo Birth control knowledge among freshmen of four Italian universities
description	Abstract Since sexual health education (SHE) is not mandatory in Italian schools, we conducted a survey on freshmen of four Italian university campuses in 2012 to investigate the respective level of sexual health knowledge (SHK) in relation to birth control, with the aim to inform public health policy makers. A convenience strategy was employed to sample 4,552 freshmen registered with various undergraduate courses at four Italian universities: Padua university (Veneto Region); university of Milan (Lombardy Region); university of Bergamo (Lombardy Region); university of Palermo (Sicily Region). We investigated the level of SHK on birth control using 6 proxy indicators: (1) the average length of a woman’s period [outcome with 3 levels: wrong (base) vs. acceptable vs. correct]; (2) the most fertile interval within a woman’s period (binary outcome: correct vs. wrong answer); (3) the event between the end of a period and the beginning of the next cycle (binary outcome: correct vs. wrong answer); (4) the average survival of spermatozoa in the womb (binary outcome: correct vs. wrong answer); (5) the concept of contraception (binary outcome: correct vs. wrong answer); (6) the efficacy of various contraceptives to prevent unintended pregnancies (linear score: 0–17). We fitted 6 separate models of multiple regression: multinomial for outcome 1; logistic for outcomes 2, 3, 4, 6; linear for outcome 6. Statistical estimates were adjusted for a number of socio-demographic factors. Results were expressed as odds ratios (OR) for the 4 multiple logistic regression models, linear coefficients (RC) for the linear regression model and relative risk ratio (RRR) for the multinomial logistic regression model. The level of significance of each risk estimate was set at 0.05. The level of SHK of freshmen sampled was rather low, as 60% interviewees did not know the average length of a woman’s period, the average survival of spermatozoa in the womb and the concept of contraception, whilst the most fertile interval within a woman’s period was known only to 55% of interviewees. The mean score of SHK on the efficacy of various contraceptive methods was only 5 (scale 0–17). Some categories of students were consistently and significantly less knowledgeable on birth control at multivariable analysis: males; students from the university of Palermo; those with vocational secondary school education and those not in a romantic relationship at the time the survey was conducted. The results of this survey clearly call for the introduction of SHE programs in Italian schools, as already done in several European countries. School SHE should start as early as possible, ideally even before secondary school. SHE should be holistic and delivered with a multiple agency coordinated approach involving the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, University and Scientific Research (MIUR), families, schools, public health departments, primary health care providers, pharmacists, media, other.
format	article
author	L. Cegolon M. Bortolotto S. Bellizzi A. Cegolon G. Mastrangelo C. Xodo
author_facet	L. Cegolon M. Bortolotto S. Bellizzi A. Cegolon G. Mastrangelo C. Xodo
author_sort	L. Cegolon
title	Birth control knowledge among freshmen of four Italian universities
title_short	Birth control knowledge among freshmen of four Italian universities
title_full	Birth control knowledge among freshmen of four Italian universities
title_fullStr	Birth control knowledge among freshmen of four Italian universities
title_full_unstemmed	Birth control knowledge among freshmen of four Italian universities
title_sort	birth control knowledge among freshmen of four italian universities
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/596439d1ef8444009908a51ded8e0301
work_keys_str_mv	AT lcegolon birthcontrolknowledgeamongfreshmenoffouritalianuniversities AT mbortolotto birthcontrolknowledgeamongfreshmenoffouritalianuniversities AT sbellizzi birthcontrolknowledgeamongfreshmenoffouritalianuniversities AT acegolon birthcontrolknowledgeamongfreshmenoffouritalianuniversities AT gmastrangelo birthcontrolknowledgeamongfreshmenoffouritalianuniversities AT cxodo birthcontrolknowledgeamongfreshmenoffouritalianuniversities
_version_	1718377799638581248

Birth control knowledge among freshmen of four Italian universities

Ejemplares similares