Family Planning practices and its awareness among multiparous women

Objective To determine the contraceptive knowledge and practice of multiparous women towards contraception and reasons for having a large family. Methods A total of 176 multiparous women were selected randomly for this study which was conducted over period of 5 months from March 2008 to August 2008 at Isra University, Hyderabad. Information was collected on self made questionnaire regarding age, actual number of children, desired number of children, educational status, knowledge and pattern of utilization of contraception. Informed consent was taken. Data was analyzed on SPSS version 11. Results Out of 176 women, 126 (71.5%) women had used contraception, while 50 (28.4%) had never used it. About 135 (76.7%) women knew about injectable contraceptives, 89 (50.5%) knew about sterilization and 86 (48.8%) knew about oral contraceptive pills (OCP). Only 71 (40.3%) women knew about IUCD and 81 (46.0%) knew about condoms. Regarding side effects, only 48 (27.2%) knew about side effects of injectable contraceptives, 41 (23.2%) knew about side effects of condoms, 36 (20.4%) about OCP and 15 (8.5%) knew about side effects of vasectomy. Most common method of contraception used by these women was condom, which was used by 61 (34.6%) women. Most common reason for not using contraception was because of husband 2 disapproval in 131 (74.4%) women. Most common reason of large family size was unplanned pregnancies seen in 90 (51.16%) women, desire of male child in 15 (8.5%) women and method failure in 10 (5.6%) women. Conclusion There is a knowledge/practice gap in the use of family planning methods. Some awareness about contraception is present but social factors affect the practice. Instead of female only, effective couple counseling should be done. (Rawal Med J 2009; 34:).