Contraceptive practice among married women of reproductive age group in rural Telangana: a cross sectional study

INTRODUCTION

India was the first country in the world to adopt an official population policy and launch official family planning programmed way back in 1952 which remains the main stay of family planning efforts.¹ Moreover, contraceptive practice in India is known to be very heavily skewed towards terminal methods which mean that contraception in India is practiced primarily for birth limitation rather than birth planning.² The prevalence of contraceptives is also an indicator for access to maternal and child health, including family planning services, which is one of the eight elements of primary health care.³

In addition, an increase in the use of contraceptives can contribute reduce infant and maternal mortality and avoid high-risk pregnancies by adjusting the pregnancy interval.⁴

Therefore, it is necessary to know the need and practice of contraception between married women. Thus, the present study was performed to know the current status of contraceptive use in rural part of Telangana.

METHODS

The study was a cross sectional study among married women with reproductive age group in rural areas of Sangareddy district. The study was carried out in Department of Community Medicine, MNR Medical College, Sangareddy, during November 2015 to February 2016. The study was conducted after obtaining clearance from the Ethical Committee of the Institute. A total sample size of 113 Women who are married in age group of 15-45 years and presumed to be sexually active were included in study. Unmarried and not willing to participate in study were excluded. The sample size for this study was calculated on the basis of total number of eligible couples. There were 1130 eligible couples in rural field practice area and 10% of that i.e. 113 were taken as sample size. The data were collected using structured questionnaire and in-depth interview guide in local language. The questionnaire was used to collect information on use of contraceptives, personal and socio-demographic factors. The study was conducted during the routine health facility visits where participants were receiving normal services. The introduction was conducted during a short briefing health talks held every morning prior to commencement of routine health facilities activities. Interviews were conducted in the separate room with assurance of confidentiality. The maximum duration spent by participants in completing the questionnaire was 45-50 minutes. At the end of the day (in each end of the day), research team conducted a review meeting to discuss issues raised during the day for conducting a quick assessment of the completed tools. The collected data were analyzed with proper statistical methods using MS excel 2010.

RESULTS

Table 1 shows that, distribution of the women according to socio-demographic variables. Table 1 describes demographic profile of the women. Among 113 women majority of women were in age group 20-29 years 52.21% Majority of the women were with secondary schooling 55.75% and housewife 92.04%. It was seen that 53.1% of the women were belonging class V socioeconomic class whereas 35.4% were of class IV.

Table 2 shows that, distribution according to use of contraception. It was seen that the utilization of contraceptive method was done by 52.21% women (Table 2).

Table 3 shows that, distribution according to choose of contraceptive method used among women. It was observed that majority of the women in the present study were using oral contraceptive pills 23.89% as a choice of method. Female sterilization was chosen by 15.04% women. Utilization of condom and IUD was seen in 5.31% and 1.77% respectively (Table 3).

DISCUSSION

The present cross-sectional study was conducted among married women with reproductive age group in rural areas of Sangareddy district by Department of Community Medicine, MNR Medical College, Sangareddy. A total sample size of 113 Women who are married in age group of 15-45 years and presumed to be sexually active were included in study.

In the present study, among 113 women majority of women were in age group 20-29 years 52.21% (Table 1). The findings of present study were comparable with the study done by Apanga et al and Relwani et al.^5,6

The majority of the women were with secondary schooling 55.75% and housewife 92.04%. The trend observed in educational level was comparable with the findings reported by Apanga et al, Relwani et al and Prateek et al.^5-7

It was seen that 53.1% of the women were belonging class V socioeconomic class whereas 35.4% were of class IV. Similar findings were also reported by Haldar et al and Prateek et al in their study.^7,8

It was seen that the utilization of contraceptive method was done by 52.21% women. Out of 113 women of reproductive age group 54 (47.79%) of women had unmet need for family planning. This is quite higher than that of national i.e. 12.9% and 12.1% as per NFHS 4.³

It was observed that majority of the women in the present study were using oral contraceptive pills 23.89% as a choice of method and was comparable with Haldar et al 22.3%.⁸ The OCP use was higher than the national figure 3.1% and Kumar et al 7.5%.^9,10 Female sterilization was chosen by 15.04% women. Utilization of condom and IUD was seen in 5.31% and 1.77% respectively.

CONCLUSION

The study concludes that there is still a need to raise awareness of the importance of the spacing method and the limiting methods. The unmet need is greater in younger women; therefore, the family planning program should focus on this age group and focus on illiterate people.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Authors are thankful to all the faculty members of Department of Community Medicine for their support.

Funding: No funding sources

Conflict of interest: None declared

Ethical approval: The study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee

REFERENCES

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