[Graduate medical students and contraception. Study on a sample of 6th year students at the University of Turin Medical School]

A survey was conducted among a group of medical students in their last year at the University of Torino, Italy, to investigate their knowledge of contraceptive techniques and their use of contraception. The questionnaire used, consisting of 24 questions, was the same devised for use at McGill University, Montreal. About half of the students were over 24 and male; only 37.5% were females and 26.6% of them virgins; 14.69% of males were virgins, while 77% of the total number of students had had sexual relations. 60% of students stated to have a good knowledge of contraceptive techniques, mostly acquired through the published literature; 40.30% of students having a sexual life practised contraception: pill, condom, coitus interruptus, in that order; 10% of them had experienced unwanted pregnancies. Results from the survey showed that the Italian students had about the same amount of knowledge as their counterparts in Canada, which, however, does not seem adequate, especially for students of medicine.