Poster Session
Context Myth: A fictional story, a wonderful narration, an idea that is not true but is believed by many people. With this definition is surprising how in the field of contraception these continue to be so prevalent. Despite the amount of information available, there is still a great lack of knowledge about contraception. There are persistent, erroneous, deeply rooted beliefs that have been handed down from generation to generation and often lead to our young, and not so young, people to misuse contraception. It is necessary to identify these unfounded ideas, to know which are the most frequent errors in order to strengthen the correct concepts and correct the mistakes. Adequate, close, fast and correct information can be the key to improving sexuality and protecting the reproductive age population. Objective To analyze the level of knowledge about contraception and sexuality of our population of reproductive age. To evaluate the prevalence of possible myths rooted in our society that can lead our young people to misuse contraception, in order to know in which areas of knowledge we must emphasize. Methods This is an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study. We selected a population composed of women and men between 18 and 45 years. They answered a self-completed questionnaire with items on some of the most common myths in sexuality, contraception and pregnancy and a section of sociodemographic and sexuality characteristics. Results Most respondents have claimed to have used emergency contraception at least once, and many women say they have had the doubt of being pregnant without looking for it at least once. A large percentage of respondents consider the pill to be fattening, that it can cause acne and that it can lead to infertility. There is widespread rumour that rest periods are needed and that contraceptives used for long periods of time can cause cancer. On the other hand, the population of our study is aware of the importance in terms of efficacy of correctly following the indicated dosage for each type of contraceptive. Conclusions With this study we confirm that despite the abundance of information, false myths and beliefs about contraception continue to exist. Although they may seem banal, often this misinformation is responsible for the misuse of contraception. This disinformation may sometimes lead to an increase in the rate of unfavorable events for our younger population, with sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies being the most immediate consequences. Difficulties in adopting an appropriate contraceptive method and living a safe sexuality depend not just on young people themselves but on professionals and health and educational institutions. For this reason, it is important that from the field of health we know what are the main shortcomings to try to improve the problem from its origin.