The knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of Syrian refugee women towards family planning: Sample of Hatay

Abstract

Objective This study was conducted with the aim of determining the fertility characteristics of Syrian refugee women and their knowledge, attitudes and behaviours with regard to family planning. Design and Sample The research was designed as a descriptive and cross‐sectional type of study. The study group consisted of 389 refugee women in the 15‐ to 49‐year age group who had migrated from Syria to Hatay. Measure Study data were collected between October 2018 and January 2019 using forms containing questions on participants' sociodemographic characteristics, and their knowledge, attitudes and behaviour regarding family planning. Data analysis was performed with the use of frequency, percentage, mean, median, standard deviation values and the chi‐square test. Results Most of the participants reported that they used a family planning method, 47.9% that they preferred traditional methods, 15.2% that the method used was supported by their husbands. Most of the participants had mistaken beliefs about pregnancy and family planning methods. Participants' information on modern family planning methods was affected by their age, income level and social security status; their knowledge of traditional family planning methods was affected by their income level, their family structure and their use of a traditional method. Women's use of family planning was affected by their age, income level and their knowledge of modern and traditional methods. Conclusions Determination of the knowledge, attitudes and practice of refugee women regarding family planning and establishing the influential factors will enable nurses to make a contribution to the future provision of specific and culturally sensitive care to sick and healthy refugee women.

The Level of Using Family Planning Methods in Refugees in Türkiye and the Factors Affecting Their Choices: A Retrospective Clinical Study

“…23,24 It has been shown that the modern methods that Syrian women know the most are pills, condoms, and IUDs, and the traditional method they know best is CI. 25,26 In general, it has been shown that many factors affect the perspective of Syrian refugees towards FP methods, such as age, education level, income level, traditions and belief systems, and the use of modern methods increases as age, education, and income lev-els increase: [25][26][27] In their studies evaluating the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of 389 Syrian women on FP, Gümüş Şekerci et al reported that more than half of the participants did not know what FP meant, but well-educated women aged 35 years and over preferred modern methods. 25 In this study, Syrian women preferred modern birth control methods rather than traditional methods such as CI.…”

The Effect on Knowledge and Attitude Levels of Family Planning Education Given to Syrian Refugee Women

“…There is a strong need for the beliefs about the side effects of the use of contraceptives in refugees to be broken, for wrong beliefs concerning the application of FP to be removed (23,24) and for the negative attitude to girl children to be eliminated (4,12). Education campaigns should be conducted to provide information on the correct use and timing of these methods.…”

“…Personal Information Form: This form was devised by the researchers by scanning the literature (4,9,11,14), and consisted of 25 questions on age, education level, profession, husband's profession, income status, family structure, social security, smoking, chronic illness and obstetric characteristics, and assessed the level of knowledge of family planning, sources of information, methods used and frequency of use.…”

“…The proportion of use of modern FP methods among war refugees coming from Syria to Turkey was found to be 27.2%. The low proportion of use of modern methods among refugee women is noted in the literature (4).…”

“…Also, another important point about this study is that few studies have been conducted on the refugees coming to Turkey from Syria (4,12). In this regard, nurses must meet the needs of refugees for FP services, education and counselling on FP methods must be provided, and the sustainability of this service must be monitored (4,9). In order to be successful, nurses must take account of the cultural practices of the target group when determining the education intervention.…”