European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS ON CONTRACEPTIVES AMONG YOUNG ADULTS IN MANILA, PHILIPPINES

Gerio A.M.P.*, Deldio V.L.A., De Guia P.P.S., Garcia, K. Guanzon, H.S.C. Llamas, A.K.R. Pabalate,
R.A.D. Pimentel C.U., Rallos R.F.B., Salazar M.I.E

ABSTRACT

The social platforms which include friends, family, and media sources' perspectives and views impact contraceptives decisions in the minority of women. These social platforms are essential social sources of contraceptive knowledge; however, misinformation and misunderstandings are frequently conveyed. According to Marabito (2021), the presentation made by Prado et al. presented at American Society of Reproductive Medicine Scientific Congress & Expo reported that less than 1% of women relied entirely on their doctor's contraceptive recommendations. Unwanted pregnancies occur for one in every four pregnancies in the Philippines due to missed chances for family planning counseling and a lack of awareness about contraception availability. This captivated the researchers' interest, prompting them to examine the impact of social media on young adults' contraceptive knowledge and awareness, specifically which social media platforms are the most widely used and capable of influencing young adults, as well as the accuracy of their knowledge and awareness. The descriptive-correlation research method was conducted on 384 young adults residing in Manila, Philippines to establish the relationship between the influence of social media and the respondents’ knowledge and awareness on contraception. In the prevalent socio-demographic 235 (61.20%) are in the category of 20-21 years old, 251 (65.40%) are female respondents and 182 (47.40%) are in their third-year college. The most used social media platform was Facebook, 194 (50.5%), while for the Contraceptive- related post it was also Facebook, 328 (85.4%). Due to the inconsistency of the respondent's responses there was no significant relationship between knowledge and the level of social media influence. The respondent’s awareness on contraceptives is not associated with their perception of the influence of social media on their knowledge and awareness as respondents are fully aware of contraceptives

Keywords: Social Media, Contraceptives, Young Adults.