Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. To explore the reasons for unintended pregnancy and effective prevention measures from the perspectives of women and healthcare providers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
This study was conducted at three public health facilities found in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Women with unintended pregnancies and healthcare providers currently working in maternal health services were purposively recruited for in-depth interviews. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted until data saturation was achieved.
Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Seven themes emerged from the transcribed interview data. This study identified multilevel reasons for unintended pregnancy from the perspective of the participants. Participants shared their views on preventive measures for unintended pregnancy, including comprehensive sexual education, service integration and male-inclusive contraceptive counselling.
This study highlights the need to improve sexual and reproductive health services by shedding light on the viewpoints and experiences of women and healthcare providers. The use of the phenomenological approach enriched the evidence generated from the lived experiences of participants.
The use of a qualitative method may make the findings not generalisable and the relative importance of each reason may be difficult to determine. Unintended pregnancy is a pregnancy that is either unwanted or mistimed.
