Epidemiological Correlates of Contraceptive Prevalence in Rural Area of Haryana

摘要

Objective: 1. To study the prevalence of contraceptive utilization with its socio-demographic variables in a rural area of Haryana. Study Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Agroha village Participants: 260 eligible couples Methodology: The minimum sample size to be covered was derived on the basis of current contraceptive prevalence rate of rural Haryana ie. 62% (as per National Family Health Survey III – 2005-06). For the purpose of the study, 260 eligible couples were selected by simple random sampling. Complete data was collected in a pre-designed, pre-tested quesionnaire. Statistical Analysis: The data collected were analyzed by using percentages and chi-square test. Result: Out of 260 couples selected for the study, 10 couples were non willing. Out of 250 eligible couples, 59.2% were current users of contraception (terminal methods users 46% & spacing method users 13.2%). Contraceptive prevalence increased significantly (p <0.001) with increasing age and also with the literacy status of the women ( 38.5% in illiterate women to 65.0% in women educated to high school & above). Caste-wise, the highest current contraceptive prevalence was found among the Other castes (74.6%) followed by OBCs (46.5%) and SCs (46.0%)(p < 0.001). Current contraceptive prevalence among women of nuclear families was higher (87.0%) than women in joint families (40.7%) & the difference was statistically significant (p <0.001). Current contraceptive prevalence was found to decrease with the increase of socio-economic status as the prevalence was 72.6% in class V (Lower Class) and progressively declined to 47.6% in the class I (Upper Class) (p <0.05). Conclusion: Preference of terminal sterilization methods over spacing methods observed in the present study as a family planning approach needs special attention and there is a need to shift women centric approach to couple centric approach for family planning. Extensive mass awareness campaign at regional level about types, advantages, availability and use of spacing methods is required and locally field workers need to apply Behavior Change Communication (BCC) methods to motivate the couples to accept the spacing methods for better maternal and child health. Introduction India was the first country in the world to formulate the national family planning program in the year 1952 with the objective of “ reducing the birth rate of the extent necessary to stabilize the population at a level consistent with requirement of National economy”1. India is undergoing a fertility transition and an important feature of this transition is the fact that contraceptive use has spread to uneducated women also2. This augurs well for the country in the long run. Another advantage with the rising prevalence of contraceptive usage is the fact that abortion incidence has declined3. Despite the fact that contraceptive usage has increased over a period of time, there exists a gap between the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) regarding contraception4,5. The extent of acceptance of contraceptive methods still varies within socities and also among different castes and religious groups. The factors responsible for such varied picture operate at the individual, family and community level with their roots in the socio-economic and cultural milieu of Indian Society6.With the above facts in consideration, we aimed to find the prevalence of contraceptive usage amongst eligible couples in Rural area of district Hisar and the association between contraceptive usage and socio-economic factors like literacy, caste, income etc. Materials and Methods The present cross-scctional study was carried out from Nov 2008 to Feb 2009 in Agroha village, which is the Rural Field Training Area attached to the Department of Community Medicine, Maharaja Agrasen Medical Institute of Education and Research, Agroha, Hisar (Haryana).The total population of Agroha village & no. of eligible couples is 7914 & 1340 respectively. The above data was collected f