ATTITUDE AND WILLINGNESS TO USE FAMILY PLANNING METHODS AMONG MOTHERS OF UNDER-ONE AGE IN IBADAN NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, OYO STATE

Abstract

The family planning program is a program designed to share knowledge of family planning and for people to develop an attitude favorable for contraception method adoption. The importance of family planning has come to be widely accepted by developing countries as a method of tackling related maternal health challenges and if done properly it can prevent unintended and high risk pregnancies that often lead to the deaths of mothers and babies. Though the awareness of contraceptive seems to have increased, there still exists a knowledge- attitude and practice gap among mothers, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. This study was meant to assess the attitude and willingness to use family planning methods among mothers of under-one in Ibadan North Local Government Area, Oyo state. A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out among consenting Mothers of Under-One Age in Ibadan North Local Government Area, Oyo State. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 195 mothers among3 selected Primary Health Care centers. An interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaire, which included a 14-knowledge, 8-practice, 6- attitude, 7-willingness and 12-factors scales. This was used for data collection. Knowledge scores of ≤ 2, >2to 5 and ≥ 5 were rated as poor, fair and good respectively. Practice scores of ≥7 were classified as good while attitude scores of ≥4 were rated as good. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test at 5% level of significance. Respondents mean age was 29.2±7.3. Mean knowledge, practice, attitude and willingness scores were 2.1±0.7, 1.4±0.7, 1.3±0.4 and 1.2±0.4 respectively. The level of knowledge of FP methods was high among respondents with 83.1% of the respondents having a knowledge of various FP methods. The major sources of information on FP identified were health workers, mass media, friends and neighbours with frequencies of 49.2%, 14.9% and 10.8% respectively. Respondents with poor, fair and good knowledge were 19.5%, 52.3% and 28.2% respectively. Thirty-seven (18.9%) of the respondents said “Yes” to “currently using any FP method” while 81.1% (158) of the respondents were not using any FP method. The FP methods used by the respondents were “Injectable” (43.2%), Condom (29.7%) and then Implants (27.1%). Majority (71.8%) had poor practice of FP methods, 81.0% of the respondents showed good attitude towards FP methods while 19.0% were willing to take up FP practices. Willingness towards FP willingness was based on the positive attitude of service providers, majority of the respondents (92.8%) agreed that health workers do lay emphasis on the importance of FP. The level of knowledge of respondents, level of usage and willingness rate towards family planning methods was relatively low. It was observed that the major source of information was the health workers, therefore their knowledge and skills have to be continuously enhanced and strengthened to deliver the right advice which in turn will increase the knowledge of mothers, thereby promoting an effective usage. Education and communication programs targeting mothers should be carried out at various healthcare settings to help mothers make informed decision about family planning method.