Evaluation of Contraception Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors in Women of Reproductive Age

Abstract

Objective: Despite the annual increase in the rates of family planning use among women of reproductive age in Turkey since 1988, still the most commonly preferred contraceptive method is coitus interruptus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge levels, attitudes, and behaviors of women concerning contraceptive methods.

Methods: Our study included 18-49 years old women; who had experienced sexuel intercource and presented to Health Science University Şişli Hamidiye Etfal Education and Research Hospital Family Medicine outpatient clinic for any reason in the period from 01.06.2017 to 01.08.2017. The design of our study was prospective, cross-sectional, and descriptive. After obtaining the verbal and written informed consent of the eligible participants, a 22-item questionnaire was applied in face-to-face interviews. The SPSS 15.0 program was used for performing the statistical analyses. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: A total of 217 people participated in this study. The mean age of the participants was 32.6 ± 8.5 years (min: 18, max: 49). 171 participants (78.8%) were married, 143 (65.9%) were unemployed, and 95 (43.8%) had completed secondary education or higher. Of the participants, 58.1% (n = 126) were currently using a contraceptive method. 177 participants (81.6%) had tried at least one contraceptive method at some point in their lives. The most preferred contraceptive method was coitus interruptus (n=50, 39.7%). All participants knew about at least one method of contraception, but when assessed in terms of knowledge, they were found to have inadequate knowledge about most methods. Only 4.6% of all participants (n=10) had adequate knowledge about the most preferred method, coitus interruptus. 98 people (45.2%) had experienced at least one unplanned pregnancy and the voluntary abortion rate was 10.6% (n=23). The most common reason behind unplanned pregnancies was the failure of the coitus interruptus method (34.7%, n=34).

Conclusion: Women of reproductive age still prefer the traditional coitus interruptus method most commonly as contraception. All participants knew about at least one method of contraception, but when assessed in terms of knowledge, they were found to have inadequate knowledge about most methods. Almost half of the participants experienced an unplanned pregnancy at least once in their lives and unplanned pregnancies were most common with the coitus interruptus method. We think that increasing the trainings about contraceptive methods will decrease unplanned pregnancies.