AUTHOR=Liu Ruping , Dong Xiaotong , Ji Xiaoning , Chen Shihan , Yuan Qingqing , Tao Yi , Zhu Yaping , Wu Sufang , Zhu Jingfen , Yang Yongbin 

TITLE=Associations between sexual and reproductive health knowledge, attitude and practice of partners and the occurrence of unintended pregnancy

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1042879

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.1042879

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Background: Although global contraceptive coverage has increased significantly, high rates of unintended pregnancy remain the current global status quo. A comparative analysis of the differences and correlations of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of both partners will help guide public health work according to gender characteristics and needs, and reduce the occurrence of unintended pregnancy.
Methods: A questionnaire survey of women and their male partners (n=1275 pairs) with unintended pregnancies who sought help from the Shanghai General Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine from October 2017 to October 2021. Chi-square test and Logistic regression were used to analyze the relationship between the occurrence of unintended pregnancy and KAP and its influencing factors. Paired odds ratio and McNemar's test were used to estimate the difference and concordance of KAP between partners.
Results: This study included 1,275 partners with a mean age of 30.0 years. Compared with women, men had better knowledge (X2 = 3.93, p = 0.047) and more active contraceptive behaviors ( X2 = 19.44, p< 0.001). In the analysis of partner concordance, male contraceptive intention was found to be better than female (ORMP = 2.56, p < 0.001), and the concordance of positive contraceptive behavior between partners increased with male education (aOR = 1.556, 95% CI = 1.185-2.044, p = 0.001). In partner-paired regression analysis, compared with good contraceptive knowledge in both men and women in the partner, the risk of negative contraceptive behavior was 1.7 times（aOR = 1.721, 95% CI = 1.234-2.400, p = 0.001）higher with good contraceptive knowledge in women but negative in men, while women with poor contraceptive knowledge but men with good knowledge are 1.3 times（aOR = 1.349, 95% CI =1.000-1.819, p = 0.05）more likely to have negative contraceptive behaviors.
Conclusions:  Men's better knowledge and contraceptive practices compared with female partners, and poor male contraceptive knowledge and attitudes may lead to a higher risk of negative contraceptive behaviors, the results suggest that male KAP plays an important role in promoting contraceptive use and reducing unintended pregnancy.
Keywords: unintended pregnancy; partner; contraception; knowledge; attitude; behavior;