Contraception awareness among bahraini females attending premarital clinic in primary healthcare centers in Bahrain – A cross-sectional study

Background: Primary healthcare centers in the Kingdom of Bahrain offer preventive care, but national premarital services have mainly focused on genetic and blood screenings in comparison to reproductive health and family planning education. Most regional studies look at family planning among married groups. It is important to investigate contraceptive knowledge among women before marriage to build strong family planning programs and prevent unintended early pregnancies. This study aims to assess the baseline awareness, attitudes, intent to use family planning, and sources of information about contraception among Bahraini women attending premarital clinics in primary healthcare settings. Methods: A cross-sectional study was executed across five randomly selected primary healthcare centers in Bahrain. A self-administered structured online questionnaire via Google Forms platform captured demographics, family planningmethod-specific knowledge, future usage intents, perceived barriers, and educational preferences. Quantitative scores ranging from 0 to 11 were categorized into poor, fair, and good knowledge levels based on quartiles. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Fisher’s exact tests within SPSS version 26.0. Results: A total of 202 women participated (51.0% aged 15–24 years; 80.2% holding a university degree). While nominal recognition was high for oral contraceptive pills (92.6%) and male condoms (73.8%), long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) like subcutaneous implants (28.7%) and emergency contraception (27.2%) were poorly recognized. Cumulatively, 75.8% exhibited poor (42.1%) or fair (33.7%) comprehensive knowledge scores. Contraceptive literacy was significantly modulated by age (p < 0.001), education (p < 0.001), and employment status (p < 0.001). A striking 73.8% expressed non-willingness to utilize contraceptive pills after marriage, a trend uniform across all sociodemographic strata (p > 0.05). The predominant barrier was fear of side effects (74.3%). Digital landscapes (internet/social media) were the primary information conduits (69.3%), and 54.0% preferred receiving future health education through online channels or videos. Conclusion: A significant difference exists between superficial contraceptive recognition and structural health literacy among premarital Bahraini females. Pervasive side-effect fear drive high resistance toward post-marital contraceptive adoption. National public health architectures should modernize mandatory premarital screening protocols by incorporating patient-centered, digitally driven reproductive counseling modules.