Centennial Honors College
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2012
Poster Presentation
Undergraduate Women’s Attitudes toward Using Contraceptives
Eryka C. Darey
Faculty Mentor: Debra Allwardt
Social Work
Knowledge of contraception is important for the health and safety of many college-age
women. Research shows that a number of barriers keep women from using
contraceptives. Research also shows that demographics such as race and age affect
which type of contraceptive women use and if they use any at all. In this study, I wanted
to learn why women do and do not use contraceptives, and what the barriers are that
prevent use of contraceptives. My hypothesis is that undergraduate females use
barriers such as cost, religion, physical attributes and accessibility to not use
contraceptives. In this study, I created a survey of questions to understand how familiar
women are with different contraceptives and why they choose to use them or not use
them. The surveys were given out to women in the social work program and to women
in African American studies courses. I have completed data collection and will have the
results analyzed for the poster presentation. I expect that many women may not know
about the options available to them or how to access contraceptives. I propose that if
women were educated on the various types of contraceptives available, they would be
more willing to use them.