Vasectomy: knowledge, perception and acceptance by medical students in Latin America

Abstract

Introduction: Medical students play an important role in achieving sexual and reproductive health outcomes, including a greater participation of men in family planning. Objective: To describe the level of knowledge, perception, and acceptance of vasectomy in a sample of Latin American medical students (i.e., whether they would recommend this procedure to their patients, and in the case of male students, whether they would undergo it at some point in their lives) in a sample of Latin American medical students. Materials and methods: Multicenter, cross-sectional, analytical study conducted in November 2020 in 2 676 medical students (1st-7th year) from 8 Latin American countries. Data were collected using a questionnaire validated in each country and completed in Google Forms. The chi-square test of independence was used to determine differences in study variables (knowledge, perception, and acceptance) for each established subgroup, with a significance level of p<0.05. Results: The level of knowledge was high and medium in 55.38% and 36.32% of participants, respectively. The country with the highest ratio of students with a high level of knowledge was Mexico (77.31%) and the one with the lowest ratio was Brazil (3.33%). Regarding perception, 96.97% of the students considered that vasectomy does not affect masculinity and 98.99% that contraception is also the responsibility of men. With respect to acceptance, 94.02% would recommend the procedure, but only 69.82% of men (n=759) would undergo it. Conclusions: Most participants have a good level of knowledge, good perception, and a good level of acceptance of the procedure. However, it is necessary to implement more training strategies that allow them to promote the use of vasectomy as a family planning alternative in their professional life.

Keywords

• Vasectomy
• Family Planning Services
• Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
• Latin America
• Students, Medical