Efforts made to improve the availability and access to family planning services to adolescents in
Ghana have not yielded the desired results. Adolescents in the Kintampo Health and Demographic
Surveillance System area are no exception. This study explored contraceptive use intentions, preferences
and their determinants among adolescents in rural Ghana. This was to contribute evidence
towards achieving universal access to reproductive health. A cross-sectional study design
was used to collect Sexual and Reproductive Health data in the Kintampo districts in 2011. A total
of 1805 female adolescents were randomly sampled from a resident female adolescent population
of 16,795. This study used intention and/or willingness of adolescents to use contraceptives as the
outcome variable and the explanatory variables were demographic and socio-economic factors.
Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were done. The findings indicated 54.3% of adolescents’
were willing to use contraceptives. Injectable was the most preferred contraceptive method
among adolescents (48.6%); this was followed by the pill (29.6%) with the least being foam or
jelly (0.2%). The most commonly cited reason for not intending to use contraception was adolescents’
opposition to family planning (31.5%) followed by a fear of side effects (25.8%). Age and
education influenced adolescents’ willingness to use contraceptives in the future. Formal education
of the young generation coupled with knowledge of contraceptive methods could yield positive
outcomes for contraceptive use and ultimately reproductive health of the adolescent population
in the near future.