title: Knowledge about emergency contraception among family-planning providers in urban Ghana.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the theoretical and practical knowledge about emergency contraception (EC) among family-planning (FP) providers in Ghana and to examine the association between FP providers' theoretical and practical knowledge.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data on 600 FP providers were collected through a census of facilities offering FP services in Kumasi, Ghana, in 2008. Nested linear multivariate regression analysis was used to identify sociodemographic, facility-related, and work-related variables associated with FP providers' theoretical and practical knowledge about EC.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On average, FP providers gave 4.1 correct answers to the 11 questions assessing theoretical knowledge and 5.6 correct answers to the 8 questions assessing their practical ability to provide EC. The FP providers seemed to learn provision-related aspects through practice without having a particularly good theoretical knowledge on EC as a contraceptive method. The health sector in which FP providers worked, their education and having received EC-specific training, the number of services offered, and the number of women seen during a week were all significant correlates of both theoretical and practical knowledge about EC. The 2 knowledge domains were significantly and positively associated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is need to improve knowledge about EC among FP providers in Ghana through in-service training.
authors.affiliation: Population, Family, and Reproductive Health Department, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore 21205–2179, USA. acreanga@jhsph.edu
authors.forename: Andreea A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Creanga
authors.forename: Hilary M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Schwandt
authors.forename: Kwabena A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Danso
authors.forename: Amy O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Tsui
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003281:Contraceptives, Postcoital / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019037:Urban Health Services; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003281:Contraceptives, Postcoital