Background: Emergency contraception is a method of contraception that can be used to prevent unprotected act of sexual intercourse. There are both hormonal and non hormonal methods of emergency contraception are available. These methods also been called “morning after pill” or post coital contraception. Aim: The present study aims to assess the effectiveness of structured teaching programme regarding emergency contraception on knowledge among married women. Methods: The community based study was conducted in selected villages at Mamandur such as Meiyur and Vadapathi. The setting was chosen on the basis of feasibility in terms of availability of adequate samples . There are around 1337 married women residing in the selected villages. The research design chosen for the study was Quasi experimental­ pre test and post test design.110 married women those who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were selected by using simple random sampling technique (lottery method). The inclusion criteria for the study includes 1) Women those who were married, 2) Women those who were between the age group of 18­40 years and 3)Women who can read and write Tamil. The exclusion criteria includes women who had any psychiatric problems and women who have any gynecological problems. Structured questionnaire was to assess the knowledge regarding emergency contraception among married women. Results:With regard to pre test and post test level of knowledge regarding emergency contraception among married women, majority 63(57.3%) of married women had moderately adequate knowledge and only 1(0.9%)of them had adequate knowledge in the pretest where as in the post test, all mothers had adequate knowledge (100.0%) on emergency contraception. There was a highly significant difference found between the pretest and post test level of knowledge regarding emergency contraception among married women at p = 0.000 level. Conclusion: The present study concludes that, structured teaching programme was effective in improving the knowledge of married women on emergency contraception. Emergency contraception is safe and effective if it use within 72 hours of unprotected sexual intercourse for preventing an unplanned pregnancy, although it is not widely used. Widespread and appropriate use of emergency contraception should be encouraged as it is a promising means to arrest the increasing abortion rate and to educate women of reproductive age about emergency contraception.

Keywords: Structured Teaching Programme; Emergency Contraception; Knowledge.