Contraceptive awareness and use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth: a cross-sectional analysis from the ‘Next Generation Youth Wellbeing Study’

BACKGROUND: Contraception enables reproductive choices, yet little is known about its use by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth. This study describes contraceptive awareness and use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from the 'Next Generation Youth Wellbeing Study' participants aged 16-24 years from Central Australia, Western Australia and New South Wales. They reported their awareness of contraceptive methods, contraceptive use and reasons for not using condoms. RESULTS: Among the 375 participants, awareness was particularly high for condoms (83%), the oral contraceptive pill (78%) and Implanon (77%). Females, older participants and sexually active participants demonstrated higher awareness. Among 219 participants who were sexually active, 27% reported using no contraception the last time they had sex, whereas 44% used condoms. The most common reasons for not using condoms were using another contraception method (28%), being in a long-term relationship (24%) and not having or liking condoms (22%). After condoms, long-acting reversible contraception was most frequently used, then the oral contraceptive pill. CONCLUSIONS: Participants had a good awareness of contraceptive options. Understanding how females and sexually active participants became aware may guide initiatives to increase awareness in other groups. Not using contraception was common. Strategies to normalise discussions about contraception, increase health service visits, influence school sex education and address power imbalances in relationships may increase use. Higher uptake of long-acting reversible contraception over the oral contraceptive pill suggests that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth may have adopted these more effective contraceptives earlier in time than non-Indigenous youth.