Background: The aim of this work was to assess the frequency of use of emergency contraception (EC) and the factors that influence young women in Poland to choose this method of contraception.
Methods: The study included 1,154 randomly chosen young women of whom 843 were students of the four largest universities and 311 were pupils aged 18 and over of six randomly chosen secondary schools in the Gdansk region of Poland. A diagnostic review was made by means of a survey based on an anonymous self-administered questionnaire, that was handed directly to the respondents. The factors affecting EC choice were assessed. The characteristics of women who used EC and those who did not were described and compared.
Results: The mean age of the respondents was 21.692.10. In a group of young sexually active women EC was used by only 14%, and among these the frequency with which it had been used varied from once to eight times. The students who most often turned to the EC were from institutions of higher education, came from large cities, and did not have a steady partner. Women in Poland have a general familiarity with the possibility of using EC, but there is insufficient exact knowledge of the way it works, as evidenced by the high proportion of women (68.3%) who regarded the EC as a means of early termination of pregnancy.
Conclusions: EC is not routinely employed in Poland. Thus there is a need for thorough and comprehensive sexual education which covers EC.