Knowledge and practice of family planning and HIV-prevention behaviour among just delivered adolescents in Ecuador: The problem of adolescent pregnancies

Background: Adolescents constitute a high risk population for the spreading of sexually transmitted diseases, among them HIV/AIDS. Knowledge regarding reproductive issues among them is a key point in order to establish appropriate prevention programs. Objective: Obtain information regarding the knowledge and practice related to family planning and HIV-prevention behaviour among adolescents of low income. Methods: Adolescents aged 19 or less delivering at the Enrique C. Sotomayor Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Guayaquil, Ecuador were surveyed in the immediate postpartum period with a structured questionnaire designed for the purpose. Results: During the study period, 357 pregnant adolescents were surveyed. Mean age was 17.2 ± 1.4 years, 30.8% were aged 16 or less. Demographical and obstetrical history differences were found when comparing adolescents in relation to age and educational level. A high rate of mothers had unplanned pregnancies (63.3%) or did not know what family planning was (49.6%). Despite high knowledge of what a condom or an oral contraceptive was, few had used them in the past. The most frequently known family planning methods in this series, which was age dependent, were: oral contraceptives (90.2%), condoms (84.9%), parenteral (66.7%) and intrauterine devices (63.3%). The majority knew what HIV/AIDS infection was, the most important sources of knowledge being: television, high school source, and family or relatives. A high rate of adolescents had never had an HIV test performed in the past with one prior tested adolescent resulting in a positive result. There was a high rate of knowledge regarding the most frequent HIV transmission routes: sexual intercourse, contact with infected blood and vertical transmission. In this series, although condom use was the most known way for HIV protection, only 22.2% answered having intercourse protected with this method. Conclusion: In this adolescent series, older age was related to higher knowledge in family planning methods; in global despite finding a relatively high knowledge in family planning and HIV related issues, contraception use and HIV protection behaviour was low.