Abstract:
Globally, over the years, health promotion organisations have developed
communication campaigns geared towards addressing most major public health
issues with the intention of preventing risky sexual behaviour. Teenage pregnancy is
a major health, social, systemic and economic challenge, not only for the basic
education sector but also, crucially for national development in general. The use of
modern contraceptives, specifically implant contraceptives, has the potential to
alleviate unintended teenage pregnancies. Modern contraceptives such as implant
contraceptives have proven to be highly effective from 24 hours after insertion up to
three years. Theoretically, the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned
Behaviour have been applied to guide the study. A quantitative, descriptive survey
was used in this study, with data collected using questionnaires. Purposive sampling
of six secondary schools under the Mankweng Circuit in the Limpopo province where
306 participants were randomly selected was employed. Data were analysed using
the SPSS version 26. The study revealed that that 34% of the participants were willing
to use the implant contraceptive method based on the benefits found to be associated
with the method. However, 66% were not willing to use the method regardless of the
benefits found in using the implant contraceptives. In addition, it was found that only
3.9% of the participants were using implant contraceptives as a tool to prevent
unintended pregnancies. This study makes a contribution to existing literature on
implant contraceptives uptake among young women in South Africa. It would be
informative to organisations and the National Department of Health who propose the
use of implant contraceptives to stem increasing teenage pregnancies.
