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Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Contraceptives Among Married Women of Rural Vellore

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Abstract

Introduction

Ensuring reproductive health is central to the process of developing and improving the health of women and children and is linked to the issues such as sexually transmitted diseases, poverty, education, gender equality, and human rights. This community-based cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of contraceptives of married women aged 18–49 years in rural Vellore, Tamil Nadu.

Methods

This study was conducted in Kaniyambadi block in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. Two-stage cluster sampling was used. A total of 200 households were selected. From each household, one eligible woman was selected.

Results

Two hundred women participated in the study. Nine percent had good knowledge, 52.5% had a good attitude and 67.5% had good practices as defined by this study. Education, belonging to non-scheduled caste, age, type of family, and the number of living children were significantly associated with knowledge, attitude, and practices in both bivariate analysis and multivariate analysis. The main reasons for not using contraception were the desire to have a child and the fear of side effects of contraceptives.

Conclusion

Despite poor knowledge levels and moderate levels of good attitude, modern contraceptive usage in this study population was high. Women thought traditional methods were more effective than modern contraceptives. Permanent sterilization in women was the widely practiced modern contraceptive method. Strategies and methods to improve knowledge, and adoption of modern contraceptive usage among women and men need to be designed, implemented and studied.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SRM School of Public Health, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chengalpattu Dist., Tamil Nadu, India

    Margret Beaula Alocious Sukumar

  2. Low Cost-Effective Care Unit, Schell Campus, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India

    Sushil Mathew John

Authors
  1. Margret Beaula Alocious Sukumar
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  2. Sushil Mathew John
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Correspondence to Margret Beaula Alocious Sukumar.

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The author has no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

The protocol was approved by the ethics committee of Christian Medical College Vellore (IRB no: 12285). Authors certify that this study has received ethical approval from the appropriate ethical committee as described above. Informed consent was obtained in regional language from the participants.

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Dr. Margret Beaula Alocious Sukumar BDS, MPH, Research Assistant, SRM School of Public Health, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chengalpattu dist. Tamil Nadu, India. Dr. Sushil Mathew John MBBS, MD, Professor, Low Cost-Effective Care Unit, Schell Campus, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.

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Sukumar, M.B.A., John, S.M. Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Contraceptives Among Married Women of Rural Vellore. J Obstet Gynecol India 72 (Suppl 1), 68–74 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13224-021-01552-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13224-021-01552-4

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