Quality of family planning counseling: An evaluation in the context of premarital counseling services carried out within a provincial health directorate in Turkey

Abstract

Good quality family planning (FP) counseling meets the reproductive health needs of individuals and couples by supporting autonomous decision making. Survey-based assessments cannot catch nuances of FP counseling. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of FP counseling offered to couples in Turkiye (Kocaeli)- which is a primary example of a developing country. This study was conducted with health workers providing at least six months pre-marriage counseling services in five institutions. Data were obtained by information form, individual face-to-face interviews, and observation. Most of the 17 participants kindly welcomed, made simple explanations without making medical terms by making face-to-face and eye contact during the counseling. While some participants were able to provide information about contraception methods, other participants were not able to explain by showing an example of each method. This study’s findings demonstrated that the quality of FP counseling in Turkiye is still suboptimal. The time allocated to FP counseling was short and there was no given information about all methods of contraception. To increase the quality of FP counseling services offered by health providers, the existing FP guidelines and training packages must be reviewed.