Publication:

Use of modern family planning methods among Saudi women in Taif, KSA

Background Contraception is said to improve reproductive health so women should have access to the different methods of family planning and should be empowered to decide the use of contraceptives. A cross sectional study was carried out to identify the prevalence of contraceptive use and its methods among Saudi women in Taif region, KSA.

Methods A structured questionnaire designed to obtain the necessary information from a convenient sample of 250 women of reproductive age, attending the gynecology and obstetrics outpatient clinics of king Abdul Aziz Specialized Hospital in Taif.

Results The results revealed that 55.2 % of them aged between 30 and 40 years old, two-fifths (40.4 %) of them had 3 or 4 living children. 67.7 % of the study subjects was using contraception. The most common contraceptive used was oral contraception (53.8 %) followed by intrauterine device and injectable hormonal contraception respectively (34.3 % and 8.3 %). Religious believes was the most given reason for not using any method of contraception reported by 53.8 % of those not using any method of contraception among 81 (32.3 %) Saudi women out of 250 of the study subjects.

Conclusions It can be concluded that the prevalence of contraception use among Saudi women of reproductive age between 15-49 years was 67.7 %. Oral contraception (53.8 %) was the most used contraceptive method followed by intrauterine device and injectable hormonal contraception respectively (34.3 % and 8.3 %). A further study is needed on a larger study sample to examine the effect of different demographic, social and economic determinants on the fertility behavior of Saudi women in Taif region.