The study used a mixed approach involving quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the perceptions, attitudes and knowledge of students from Colleges of Education in the Greater Accra and Eastern regions of Ghana on contraceptive use. Stratified, simple random and convenience, census, proportional sampling techniques were used to sample 434 students from the population for both the quantitative and qualitative approaches. A cross-section survey was initially conducted among 380 students from the Colleges of Education. Those who were engaged in the qualitative aspects were fifty-four. The study used semi-structured questionnaire with closed-ended questions for the survey. Semi-structured interview and focus group discussions guides were also used. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, anova, reporting the means and their standard deviations. The independent sample t-test was also used to test the gender difference in contraceptive use among males and females. The qualitative data were analysed thematically. The findings generally indicated that, the College of Education students had satisfactory perceptions, attitudes and knowledge on contraceptive use. More than half of the students had good knowledge on contraceptives and indicated their use in preventing pregnancies and STIs. The perception of students included the use of contraceptive to preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, affordability and availability perceptions of contraceptives. On attitudes towards contraceptives, some students adhered to using contraceptive due to the risk of unintended pregnancies and STIs. This notwithstanding, there were identified gaps with regard to some of their perceptions and attitudes towards contraceptive use. Perception gaps included fears due to infertility and negative effects associated with the use of contraceptives, embarrassment from use and seeking contraceptive information, contraceptives as a foreign concept and contraceptive use as a woman‘s responsibility. The study also revealed students remarking the difficulty in reaching orgasm when using contraceptives and engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse in the absence of contraceptives. There was a significant difference between the use of contraceptives between males and females. Based on the findings, there is the need for pragmatic steps such as education, formation and strengthening health clubs in schools to provide accurate information to students. The need for adequate counselling and guidance support is critical to improve the perceptions, attitudes and knowledge of students from the Colleges of Education in the Greater Accra and Eastern regions of Ghana.

A thesis in the Department of Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Educational Studies, submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Guidance and Counselling) in the University of Education, Winneba