Socio-demographic factors influencing contraceptive practice among married women attending the family planning clinic of UUTH, Uyo, south-south Nigeria

Abstract

Background:
Contraception is a topical issue globally considering its enormous benefits to individual users, families, communities, nations and the world at large. Its practice, especially among married women, is influenced by several factors at different settings. This study was done to find out the socio-demographic factors influencing the practice of contraception among married women age 15-49 years attending the family planning clinic of the University of Uyo Teaching hospital, Uyo, South-South  Nigeria and to identify sources of information on contraception among the married women.
Method: This was a cross sectional descriptive study involving 165 married women aged 15-49 years who attended the family planning clinic of UUTH, Uyo, between May and September 2013, recruited through simple random sampling technique. A semi-structured  interviewer  administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on socio-demographic factors and  sources of information on contraception among the  respondents. The data obtained were analysed using statistical package for social  sciences (SPSS), version 17.0.
Results: The mean age of the subjects were 32.22(±5.56). Results obtained  showed that higher contraceptive use  was found among older women,  higher educational level, higher employment status, higher income level, husbands higher educational and employment status, urban residence, lower parity,  Christian faith and  mixed sexes of the respondents children. However, only parity (P=0.001) and Christian religious grouping (P=0.000) had statistically significant influence on contraceptive practices among the married women. Most respondents (76.9%) obtained their contraceptive information from health care wokers while IUCD was the most preferred method of contraception (38.2%).
Conclusion: Contraceptive use among married women in the study is mainly influenced by their high social status. There is need therefore to step up information propagation to women across all social classes if the benefits of contraceptive use are to be achieved in the society.