Determinants of intention to use family planning methods in the four emerging regions of Ethiopia: an ideation score based assessment

Abstract

Plain English summary Contraceptive use shows sizeable differences within and across Ethiopia, and the situation is worsening in the country’s emerging regions (Afar, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambela, and Somali). Little or no progress in expanding access to family planning (FP) services in these emerging regions has been observed over the past years. Reasons for the disparity and the psychosocial factors expected to affect uptake of contraceptives are not clearly identified in Ethiopia’s emerging regions. In this study, we explored intention to use family planning in the future and the impact of ideation on this intention among 2891 women of reproductive age in the four emerging regions of Ethiopia. Ideation is the concept that people’s actions are influenced strongly by their beliefs, ideas, and feelings (‘‘ideational factors’’) and provides a framework to understand behaviors, including contraceptive behavior. This study indicates that women’s intention to use FP in the future increases with increases in their ideational factors: contraception awareness, self-efficacy, rejection of myth and rumor, intra-family discussion and family support. Findings from this study should inspire health officials to focus on the psychosocial factors to close the disparity and improve contraceptive utilization.

Keywords

• Ideation
• Confirmatory factor analysis
• Family planning
• Ethiopia