Publication:

Knowledge and attitude towards the practice of temporary contraceptive methods among pregnant women attending a teaching hospital in Puducherry

Background Knowledge and access to contraception is the basic right of every woman. This is one of the goals of National family planning programme. This study gauges the knowledge of antenatal women about temporary contraceptive methods available in our outpatient department and their attitude towards its practice.

Methods This is a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out at Indira Gandhi medical college and research institute, Puducherry, between March 2019 to May 2019. 270 pregnant women were chosen and with their consent, using a predesigned questionnaire, their awareness regarding contraception was assessed. Then each participant was counselled regarding the various methods and their attitude towards choosing a temporary contraceptive method was assessed using a questionnaire. The data was entered in SPSS software and analyzed.

Results In this study, 88.8% belonged to 20-30 years, 77% had received school education and 80.3% were home makers. 72.9% were primigravidas. 55.8% of primis and 95.8% of multis knew about spacing. In primis, 67.5% knew about IUCDs. In multis, 95.8% knew about condoms. Knowledge of depo provera was poor. The most preferred contraceptive was condom followed by CuT and pills.

Conclusions This study shows that it is important to create awareness about temporary contraceptive methods and its free availability in the hospitals. Further pregnant women need to be given more information about oral pills, emergency and injectable contraceptive methods. The Government has to work in unison with hospitals and its staff along with the media to achieve this goal.