Abstract
Background and context. Uncontrolled and exponentially increasing population is one of the biggest obstacles in the socioeconomic progress and prosperity of a nation. Aims and objectives. The present study was undertaken to evaluate contraceptive practices among eligible couples living in the rural areas of Punjab and their perception, knowledge, attitude, and behavior toward various family planning methods. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional descriptive study was done by the interview method to evaluate the various individual determinants toward contraceptive practices among 1123 married women and their husbands aged between 15 and 49 years. Eligible couples (5477) from in and around the hospital were registered at the rural health center of our institute. Statistical analysis was carried out using nonparametric tests such as percentand χ2 test. Results. Contraceptive prevalence was found to be 78.1% and the most commonly used method was surgical sterilization (42.3%). Among the spacing methods, condoms, oral contraceptive pills, and intrauterine contraceptive devices (Cu-T) were used by 36.4%, 7.4%, and 5.5% of the couples, respectively while traditional methods were preferred by 8.3% of the women. Weakness, menstrual dis infertility, weight gain, etc were few of the side effects that were perceived by women as the main hurdle in the use of contraceptives. Irrespective of the method of contraception used, 33.3% of the women reported unwanted pregnancy, most commonly among the users of condoms (79.1%). Sixpercent of the women were not satisfied with the gender composition of their family and desired a male child. Conclusions. Increased use of modern contraceptives requires community-wide and multifaceted interventions that aim at countering negative perceptions about modern methods.
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