Knowledge and Opinion Regarding Adoption among Rural Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Children are appraised as the precious gift. Worldwide about 8% of couples suffer with primary infertility and 12% of couples suffer with secondary infertility with the rate of 10% in India and about 20 million children are deprived, even then the rates of adoption are declining in India. Present cross sectional study was undertaken with objectives: to assess and compare the knowledge and opinion regarding adoption among adults of different age groups, to determine relationship between knowledge and opinion regarding adoption among adults and to seek association of knowledge and opinion regarding adoption with selected variables. Sample size consisted of 200 adults selected by quota sampling residing in rural area. Data collection was done with structured knowledge questionnaire and likert scale using interview technique. Results depicted that most (86%) of adults were having below average knowledge and majority (92.5%) of adults were having favourable opinion towards adoption. A weak positive significant relationship (r=0.309) was found between knowledge and opinion scores of adults residing in rural area. Knowledge scores among adults in rural area were dependent on age, occupation, marital status, duration of marriage (year) if married, education level, number of living children, source of information whereas opinion score were dependent on age, education level, family income (per month), source of information. It can be inferred that rural adults were having below average knowledge and favourable opinion regarding adoption. Rate of adoption was found to be 24% in selected rural area.