Nursing Students’ Attitude towards Unwanted Pregnancy and Their Practice Behaviors for Preventing Unwanted Pregnancy

Abstract

    There are many key factors contributing to unwanted adolescent pregnancy. Attitude toward un­wanted pregnancy and practice behaviors for preventing unwanted pregnancy might be one of the most important factors for pregnancy prevention among Thai nursing students. This survey research is aimed to determine the level of nursing students’ attitude towards unwanted pregnancy, to identify the level of their practice behaviors for preventing unwanted pregnancy, and to evaluate the relationship between their attitude towards unwanted pregnancy and their practice behaviors for preventing unwanted pregnancy. The target population was 639 nursing students in the academic year of 2015. The proportions of 90 samples were randomly drawn from each class using a simple random sampling technique. The Attitude toward Unwanted Pregnancy Questionnaire and the Practice Behaviors for Preventing Unwanted Pregnancy Questionnaire were used for collecting data. Content validity was approved by 3 experts. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for those two questionnaires was .80 and .70, respectively. Descriptive statistics and Person’s Production Moment Correlation were used for data analysis.

    The majority of participants were single females, aged 20-21 years old. The average score of at­titude toward unwanted pregnancy was at a high level (M= 80.56, SD = 8.59) whereas the average score of practice behaviors for preventing unwanted pregnancy was at a good level (M= 59.31, SD = 6.11). There was a statistically significant positive correlation at the moderate level between the attitude toward unwanted pregnancy and the practice behaviors for preventing unwanted pregnancy (r = .495, p < .05).

    Improvements in the unwanted pregnancy attitude were found to be relevant to the promotion of practice behaviors for preventing unwanted pregnancy among nursing students. In order to ensure unwanted pregnancy among nursing students, it is strongly suggested that nursing students learn to be responsible for their own practice behaviors and attitudes, and obtain correct knowledge about their understanding and evaluation of sexuality.