Educational intervention with comics about contraceptives for adolescents: quasi-experimental study

The present study was to evaluate adolescents' knowledge of contraceptive methods before and after an educational intervention using a comic book. This quasi-experimental study was conducted from September to October 2023, with 62 high school adolescents from Maceió-AL. Knowledge about contraceptive methods was assessed at four different points in time. The Friedman, Wilcoxon, and McNemar tests were used for analysis. The median knowledge score was 8 (p25-p75; 4-12) at the pre-test, 14 (p25-p75; 5-15) at the immediate post-test, 13 (p25-p75; 5-15) at the 7-day post-test, and 13 (p25-p75; 6-15) at the 15-day post-test. Adolescents' knowledge at the three post-intervention assessments was significantly higher than at the pre-test (<0.001). When comparing post-test scores, no change was found between the immediate post-test and the seven-day post-test (p=0.108), between the immediate post-test and the 15-day post-test (p=0.262), and between the 7-day post-test and the 15-day post-test (p=0.442). Knowledge scores were maintained up to 15 days after the intervention. The comic book "Methods of contraception: I'm young and I don't want to have a baby yet" is a resource with potential to increase adolescents' knowledge about contraceptive use.