<b>Characterization of pregnant adolescents on the previous use of contraceptive methods – a descriptive study</b> - doi: 10.4025/cienccuidsaude.v11i3.10805

Abstract

Concern about the contraceptive behavior of adolescents has been increasing by the social relevance granted to pregnancy in this age group. This is a cross-sectional, descriptive and quantitative study, carried out with 200 pregnant adolescents in a credited Maternity of Ceará, using a form as a collect instrument and analysis through the simple frequencies with the purpose to outline sociodemographic characteristics of pregnant adolescents linked to the use or disuse of contraceptive methods. It was noticed that 91% of girls were between 15 and 19 years old, 55.5% had incomplete elementary school education, and 53% reveled to be housewives. Regarding to the previous use of contraceptive methods, the first choice was the male condom with 31.5% . As for the time of use of hormonal contraceptive, 57.3% of adolescents used it for less than 1 year. As for the reason to abandon the contraception, 16% revealed that the method failed or was used incorrectly, 15.5% of adolescents did not want or did not like to use it and 11.5% said they wanted to get pregnant. Considering the results, it is clear that the professional nursing must act on sex education informing young individuals about the existence of methods and how to use them correctly.