Perceptions and Practices Regarding Family Planning Among the Married Women of Rural Area of Gujarat: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Global contraceptive usage was 63.3% in 2010 which was 9% more than that in 1990. The contraceptive prevalence rate among currently married women age 15-49 increased from 56 percent in 2005-06 to 65.8 percent in 2019-12 (NFHS-V). The research was conducted to study the perceptions and practices for the use of different type of contraception for family planning in married women of 15-49 age group. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 462 married women of age group 15-49 using simple random sampling method. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents with written consent. Results: Among the 361 (78%) respondents using contraception, 42% used condoms, 24% IUD, 18% OCP and 16% women had tubectomy. Among the 22% women who were not using any contraception, 78% had no knowledge, 11% of women had fear of any side effects, 9% had no access to contraception while 2% had objection from husband. Conclusion: This study revealed lack of knowledge was the main reason for not using any method of contraception. Government could organise frequent family planning awareness programme at community level.

Keywords

• Contraceptive
• Family Planning
• Rural