A Study to Assess the Knowledge and Attitude Related to Methods of Contraception among Antenatal Mothers in Rural Area of Sangli District

Abstract

Introduction: “A way of thinking and living that is adopted voluntarily, upon the basis of knowledge, attitudes and responsible decision by individuals and couples, in order to promote the health and family welfare of the family group and thus contribute effectively to the social development of a country”. — WHO (1971, Report no. 483). This emphasizes on attitudinal change and on informed knowledge decisionsregarding family size, timing and spacing of wanted children. Thisimplies creating awareness and motivation of individuals and couples about family planning. Family planning is accepted as a human right at various international forums such as United Nations Conference on Human Right in 1968, conference on World population in 1974, and conference on International Women’s day in 1975. It is being declared that “All couples and individuals have the basic human right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of the children and to have the information, education and means to do so”. Objectives of the Study: 1. To assess the knowledge related to methods of contraception among antenatal mothers. 2. To assessthe attitude related to methods of contraception among antenatal mothers. 3. To find out the association between knowledge and attitude score with their selected demographic variables. The design adopted for the present study was exploratory descriptive survey design. Setting: The study was conducted in rural areas, rural hospital and research centre Turchi Phata and Primary Health Centre at Yellavi, by non-probability purposive sampling technique. Participants: The samples of 90 antenatal mothers were chosen for the study by Non-probability purposive sampling technique. Methodology: A non-probability purposive convenient sampling was used for the selection of the samples for the study. Data was collected from 90 antenatal mothers from Yellavi and Turchi Phatarural hospital of Sangli district. Study instrument used by the researcher consisted of two parts: Section I: Demographic Performa. Section II: Structured knowledge questionnaire on the general information about methods of contraception, temporary contraception and permanent contraception. It consisted of 15 multiple choice questions, all of which were scored, each correct answer was given a score of one and wrong answers a score of zero. The total score of structured questionnaire was 15. Section III: Modified Likert Attitude scale. Likert type attitude scale was used to assess the attitude of antenatal mothers related to methods of contraception. The tool was validated by 13 experts and translated in to Marathi language. Pilot study was conducted on nine samples at Ashta rural hospital to establish the feasibility of the tool for generating data. Data was planned to be analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage, mean, standard deviation will be used summarize the sample characteristics by item wise analysis. Result: Most of the samples had knowledge regarding “Aims of contraception” which were found to be 75.56; and 70% (63) of antenatal mothers had average knowledge. Most of the samples had shown 100% attitude about the statement, that is, “Using contraception is a way of showing that you care about your partner, and “Using contraception would enable them to regulate the size of their family”. Majority (84.4% (76)) of antenatal mothers had positive attitude related to method of contraception, and 15.6% (14) had neutral attitude related to methods of contraception. The association between the demographic variables and knowledge of antenatal mothers showed that there is no significant relationship between variables (parity, religion, type of occupation, type of family and the association between the demographic variables and attitude showed that there no significant association. Conclusion: Population explosion is one of the emerging problems faced by contemporary India. Awareness of family planning methods; and developing positive attitude towards family planning methods can help in controlling population explosion, ultimately resulting in healthy mother, healthy baby, and healthy family. The purpose of the study was to assessthe knowledge and attitude of antenatal mothers related to methods of contraception