Abstract

Background: India was the first country in the world to launch a family planning program in 1952 with the objective of reducing birth rate to the extent necessary to stabilize the population. Inspite of availability of a wide range of contraceptives, mass media campaigns, and the Information, Education, and Communication programs, the population control remains a distant dream to achieve. It is pertinent to identify the factors responsible for poor acceptance contraceptives in different sociocultural groups. Objectives: The objectives of this study are as follows: (1) To find contraceptive prevalence and usage of different contraceptive methods and (2) to study correlates of contraceptive use among married women of reproductive age group.
Materials and Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 210 married women in reproductive age group attending the Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Pediatric Departments of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Adilabad. They were interviewed by pre-tested and semi-structured questionnaire. Percentages were calculated, and statistical analysis was done by Chi-square test.
Results: The prevalence of contraceptive use among respondents was only 35.71%. Sterilization (54.67%) was the most common method of contraception. Contraceptive use was found higher among the women aged ≥30 years, having ≥2 living children, >5 married years, and who had ease th of discussion with their husbands on contraception. In about 3/4 cases, both husband and wife involved in decision- making regarding contraceptive use. About 56.67% of respondents knew at least one method of contraception. Neighbors (40.88%) were main source of information regarding contraceptive methods. Conclusion: The prevalence of contraceptive use was lower than the findings of the National Family Health Survey-3. Younger age of women, <2 living children, ≤5 married years, and no discussion with husband regarding contraceptive use were found to be associated with the low use of contraception.