Barreras para el ejercicio de la maternidad y de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos en estudiantes gestantes y madres de la Facultad de Ciencias Médicas de la Universidad de Cuenca, 2020-2021

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Identify the barriers that hinder the exercise of motherhood and sexual and reproductive rights and identify the perceived consequences of those barriers in pregnant students and mothers of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Cuenca, 2020-2021. METHODOLOGY: We carried out an observational and cross-sectional study in the period between December 2020 and May 2021. The universe of this study is made up og by the 213 pregnant students or mothers of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Cuenca and our sample is made up of 138 mothers and pregnant women who filled out our survey virtually online, accepting the previously informed consent. The data was tabulated and analyzed using the program Excel and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 15.0. For data analysis, simple frequencies, averages and percentages were used. RESULTS: Regarding the variables that have the most relevance, are the marital status. 63% of the participants indicated that they were single, 97.8% of them have heterosexual orientation, 66% have an age between 20 and 25 years. 54.3% of the students indicate that the age of the first pregnancy was between 17-20 years and 67.4% indicate that they had at least one child. Regarding the changes that were perceived by the students in terms of their academic performance, 60.9% said that, if they had a negative change, 92% do not consider that their son is an obstacle to their life project. 62.3% of the students considered at some point the interruption of their studies due to their pregnancy / being a mother. CONCLUSIONS: With this study, we were able to demonstrate that there are academic problems that trigger motherhood, since a high percentage of participating women presented a negative change in their studies.