Awareness and Acceptance of Contraception in Postpartum Women in Our Tertiary Hospital in Central India

Abstract

Introduction Contraception is an important intervention to reduce unwanted pregnancy and promote healthy and better living among women. As the population continues to rise, there will be overcrowding, a limiting of resources, and the quality of life will decline. India, as the first country in the world, initiated the National Family Planning program in the year 1951 with the objective of “reducing the birth rate to the extent necessary to stabilize the population at a level consistent with requirement of national economy.” Objectives (1) To study awareness, acceptance, and preferred method of contraception among postpartum women. (2) To identify the reasons for rejection of contraceptive methods. (3) To contribute to the development of knowledge in the area of family planning. Materials and methods The study is a community-based cross-sectional observational study. The study was conducted among postpartum women in reproductive age group who delivered in our hospital in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College & Hospital, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. A total of 480 married women were interviewed in the local language using a pretested questionnaire. Their level of awareness, acceptance, and reason for acceptance/refusal was assessed. Results A total of 65.2% of women were aware of at least one method of contraception; 73.9% women were using a contraceptive at the time of study; 34.8% women were unaware of any health care facility providing contraceptives in the vicinity. Maximum number of women preferred intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD; 38.8%) as their first choice. Knowledge and practice of emergency contraceptive was very low. Main reason for nonacceptance of contraceptive was lack of knowledge and fear of side effects. Health professionals were the main source of knowledge. Conclusion There is till date lack of awareness of contraception in some postpartum women. Regular counseling is a must to all pregnant women from every health care center in a village to superspeciality centers in cities. Information should be provided about various methods of contraception and patient should be able to choose a method of her choice. How to cite this article Sahu B, Tiwari P, Uikey V, Badkur P. Awareness and Acceptance of Contraception in Postpartum Women in Our Tertiary Hospital in Central India. J South Asian Feder Obst Gynae 2017;9(4):327-330.

Inequalities in short-acting reversible, long-acting reversible and permanent contraception use among currently married women in India

“…The current study found a lower percentage of SARC or LARC methods, which is still questionable, in contrast to previous studies demonstrating higher awareness of family planning methods and improved women's educational level [5]. Many factors that have been identified in many earlier studies, including lack of awareness, misinformation or persistent fear of side effects, and insufficient provider training, are likely to contribute to this small share which has become a potential barrier to uptake [6][7][8][9]. There were differences in the mix of modern contraception methods by sociodemographic characteristics such as educational attainment, place of residence, religion, caste, and wealth status [5,10,11].…”

“…Further, the level of contraception use reflects the societies' attitudes and behaviours towards women and women's autonomy in the community [3,4]. The prevalence of contraception use also reveals gender equality and the quality of public health programs [5][6][7]. As a result, studies on contraceptive use have depicted the effects of contraception on demographic transition and population development [2,[5][6][7].…”

“…The prevalence of contraception use also reveals gender equality and the quality of public health programs [5][6][7]. As a result, studies on contraceptive use have depicted the effects of contraception on demographic transition and population development [2,[5][6][7].…”

Postpartum contraceptive practices among urban and peri-urban women in North India: a mixed-methods cohort study protocol

“…Qualitative in-depth interviews are conducted with a random sample of 20 women, or until saturation, at each of the multiple time points (6 weeks, 6 months, 12 months and 24 months). This sampling is intended to provide a diverse representative sample of women’s perspectives [ 23 ]. In addition to the women, 35 husbands and 20 service providers, or until saturation, whichever is lower, will be interviewed for additional perspectives and triangulation purposes.…”

“…Although India has experienced a decline in total fertility rate from 3.2 in 2000 to 2.3 in 2016 [16], there are wide disparities across states, rural-urban population and socioeconomic status, and there is an ongoing need for FP. Studies in India show that several obstacles prevent women from using postpartum contraception including: a lack of awareness [18][19][20][21][22], lack of marital communication about it [23], cultural attitudes [24], poor access to facilities [21], and poor counselling and other skills among health providers [16,24,25]. Even when women are aware of PPFP, studies have found a gap between their awareness and their actual utilisation due to barriers related to cultural, religious, fertility desires, duration of marriage and ANC service utilisation factors [22,25].…”