REASONS FOR DISCONTINUATION OF CONTRACEPTIVE METHODS AMONG COUPLES WITH DIFFERENT FAMILY SIZE AND EDUCATIONAL STATUS

Authors

  • Farwa Rizvi
  • Ghazia Irfan

Abstract

Background: High rates of contraceptive discontinuation for reasons other than the desire forpregnancy are a public health concern because of their association with negative reproductive healthoutcomes. The objective of this study was to determine reasons for discontinuation of contraceptivemethods among couples with different family size and educational status. Methods: This crosssectional study was carried out at the Obstetrics/Gynaecology Out-Patient Department of PakistanInstitute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad from April–September 2012. Patients (241) were selected byconsecutive sampling after informed written consent and acquiring approval of Ethical Committee. Thesurvey interview tool was a semi-structured questionnaire. Results: Majority (68%) of womenbelonged to urban, and the rest were from rural areas. Mean age of these women was 29.43±5.384 year.Reasons for discontinuation of contraceptives included fear of injectable contraceptives (2.9%),contraceptive failure/pregnancy (7.46%), desire to become pregnant (63.48%), husband away at job(2.49%), health concerns/side effects (16.18%), affordability (0.83%), inconvenient to use (1.24%),acceptability (0.83%) and accessibility/lack of information (4.56%). Association of different reasons ofdiscontinuation (chi square test) with the family size (actual number of children) was significant(p=0.019) but was not significant with husband’s or wife’s educational status (p=0.33 and 0.285respectively). Conclusions: Keeping in mind the complex socioeconomic conditions in our country,Family planning programmers and stake holders need to identify women who strongly want to avoid apregnancy and finding ways to help the couples successfully initiate and maintain appropriatecontraceptive use.Keywords: Contraceptives, discontinuation, side effects

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Published

2012-03-01

Issue

Vol. 24 No. 1 (2012): JOURNAL OF AYUB MEDICAL COLLEGE, ABBOTTABAD

Section

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

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