Socio-Demographics and Contraceptive Acceptance of Women of Reproductive Age in Peshawar Pakistan: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Delaying in the initiation of effective contraception in postpartum period and during lactation puts a woman at risk of rapid, repeat, and unintended pregnancy. Postpartum Intrauterine Contraceptive Device (PPIUD) insertion during a Caesarean section allows obstetrician to insert it under vision thus excluding any fear of perforating the uterus with major side effects that is bleeding and abdominal cramps being masked in the puerperium. The aim of the currents study was to investigate knowledge, attitude, and acceptance trends of contraception practices among women from Peshawar Pakistan.

Methods: Current six-month duration (January 1,2019 to June 30, 2019) based cross-sectional study was conducted at Obstetrics and Gynecology Unit B, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar by following non-probability purposive sampling approach. Detailed socio-demographic and obstetric history was obtained from 316 women who were admitted for elective lower segment Caesarean section by informed ethical concern. The major socio-demographic details collected from the study participants may include age, education level and number of total pregnancies conceived. Further, profession and duration from last childbirth related factor were compared with the knowledge and acceptance rates of intra-uterine postpartum contraception by using Chi-Square test. Further data analysis was made by using SPSS v. 20 and Microsoft office 2010 different tools.

Results: Out of 316 participants, only 22 (6.96%) women accepted PPIUCD during Caesarean section. The mean age of participants was 33.26 ± 5.1 SD. About 243 (76.89%) cases had no normal schooling, 15 (4.7%) had primary education, 57 (18%) had secondary and only 1 (0.3%) had higher education. Similarly, 294 (93%) were housewives while only 22 (7%) were employed at work., no significant difference was noted among the acceptance of the different age groups.

Conclusion: The uptake of PPIUCD is very low as observed in this study. To improve the situation, health authorities should be encouraged to provide counseling on postpartum contraceptive methods during ante- and post-partum care visits.