Main Article Content
Knowledge, attitude and practice of family planning among pregnant women at Grace Specialist Hospital
Abstract
Background: Unwanted pregnancy is a common event in our environment and many of them will end in an unsafe abortion. Unsafe abortion is
a significant cause of maternal mortality. Correct use of effective family planning methods will reduce the incidence of unwanted pregnancy and
improve the health of women.
Objective: To determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of family planning among ante natal clients.
Method: A cross sectional study of 346 consecutive antenatal clients using a self administered structured questionnaire. Analysis was with SPSS
for windows, version 15 and level of significance was set at P = 0.5 ( 95% confidential interval).
Results: The mean age in the study was 28.06 + 4.9 and the mean parity was 1.51 + 1.5. 96.3% were married and all of them had at least
primary education. Ninety-six percent of the respondents (n = 309) were aware of at least one family method. The most common methods known
by the respondents were Condom and Billings’ methods (48.6%). The commonest source of information on family planning was the media
representing 35.1%. Only 47.5% of the respondents had used one form of family planning method. The most commonly used method was
Billings / Calendar (50.3%). Child spacing was the commonest reason for using family planning. Most of those who did not use (30.2%) felt
they had no need for it. Education and religion did not significantly affect the use of a family planning method. However, members of religious
groups other than Roman Catholic were more likely to use a modern method (P<0.05). About 26.1% of the women had changed a method for
another and the commonest reason for change is husband’s satisfaction (55%). 80.4%, expressed satisfaction with their method and 91.9% of
them would want to use the same method again. Also, 95.1% of them would recommend their method to their friends. Two hundred and forty
women (74.4%) believed that family planning is safe. another 74.5% agreed that unmarried people should know about family planning.
Knowledge and attitude are quite good but practice is still low. Public enlightenment should be improved so as to make family planning
accessible to all.
a significant cause of maternal mortality. Correct use of effective family planning methods will reduce the incidence of unwanted pregnancy and
improve the health of women.
Objective: To determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of family planning among ante natal clients.
Method: A cross sectional study of 346 consecutive antenatal clients using a self administered structured questionnaire. Analysis was with SPSS
for windows, version 15 and level of significance was set at P = 0.5 ( 95% confidential interval).
Results: The mean age in the study was 28.06 + 4.9 and the mean parity was 1.51 + 1.5. 96.3% were married and all of them had at least
primary education. Ninety-six percent of the respondents (n = 309) were aware of at least one family method. The most common methods known
by the respondents were Condom and Billings’ methods (48.6%). The commonest source of information on family planning was the media
representing 35.1%. Only 47.5% of the respondents had used one form of family planning method. The most commonly used method was
Billings / Calendar (50.3%). Child spacing was the commonest reason for using family planning. Most of those who did not use (30.2%) felt
they had no need for it. Education and religion did not significantly affect the use of a family planning method. However, members of religious
groups other than Roman Catholic were more likely to use a modern method (P<0.05). About 26.1% of the women had changed a method for
another and the commonest reason for change is husband’s satisfaction (55%). 80.4%, expressed satisfaction with their method and 91.9% of
them would want to use the same method again. Also, 95.1% of them would recommend their method to their friends. Two hundred and forty
women (74.4%) believed that family planning is safe. another 74.5% agreed that unmarried people should know about family planning.
Knowledge and attitude are quite good but practice is still low. Public enlightenment should be improved so as to make family planning
accessible to all.
