Publication:

A community cross-sectional study to assess the awareness and perception among women regarding contraceptive methods in Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P.

Background Pregnancy and childbirth carry risks for both morbidity and mortality. Couples who use contraceptives to avoid pregnancy may face some health risks, but there are also important non-contraceptive health benefits. The present study aimed to assess the awareness and perception among women regarding contraceptive methods.

Methods A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in the year 2023 and non-probability purposive sampling technique was chosen to recruit 200 the women of age between 18-28 years. A structured questionnaire was adopted to gather data. Descriptive statistics like Frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics of chi square and Karl Pearson correlation coefficient was used in the study.

Results Among the 200 women, 39.1% are between the ages of 25 and 26, 89.6% are Hindu, 52.5% are from nuclear families, 48.5% have secondary education, 85.6% are housewives, 41% have an annual income between 10,000 and 15,000, and 45.5% have learned about contraception from the media whereas 25.7% learnt from friends. 20.5% of women scored a sufficient level of awareness. According to the perception score, 74.5% have a favourable perception. The correlation coefficient turned out to be (r)= 1.00, which shows that there was a positive relationship between level of awareness and level of perception.

Conclusions All women of reproductive age should understand about contraception so they are better prepared to make wise and healthy decisions. Improving awareness and perception regarding the use of contraception in rural communities necessitates enhancing access to and education regarding reproductive health among adolescents.