A Study on the Association of Socio-Demographic Variables with Contraception Usage among Married Women of Reproductive Age group In Rural Areas of Nellore District, Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

Context:India was the first country in the world to launch National Family Planning Program (NFPP) in 1952 to stabilise population and reduce birth rate, since then the program has undergone various changes in its  philosophy as well as scientific approaches. Although the fertility rates are declining in our country, the extreme contrasting and complex demographic landscape with variations in contraceptive behaviour differs not only in state but also between administrative blocks within the state. The state of Andhra Pradesh was among the earliest states to reach Total Fertility (TFR) of 1.79 by the year 2005-06. Hence this was carried out to study the association of socio demographic variables with the contraceptive practices among the Married women in the reproductive age group(15-45 years) in rural areas of Nellore Distrcit, Andhra Pradesh.

Aims:To study the association of socio-demographic variables with contraceptive usage among the married women in reproductive age group of rural areas of Nellore District.Material and Methods:This is a cross sectional study done in the community for a period of one year at three randomly selected Primary Health Centers (PHC) of Nellore district. Considering 71% of prevalence of contraception in the National Family Health Survey( NFHS-4), sample size was calculated with 5% level of significance with allowable error of 10% to 179 ( assuming a non response rate of 10%) , which was rounded to 200. A multistage sampling method was adopted whereby ‘1’ PHC from each of the revenue divisions of the district was selected  and it was decided to interview 200 married women in each of the “3” PHCs ( n=600). From each PHC , “5” sub centres were randomly selected wherein “40” subjects were interviewed using systematic random sampling. Statistical analysis used:Univariate analysis using χ2 test and stepwise logistic regression analysis ( method = forward) was done to determine significant differences and associations of various parameters with contraceptive usage. Results:Contraceptive prevalence was 56% ( n=338). Among whom 74.5% of the women were between the age group of 20-29 years. The usage of contraceptives increased with the age of women( 28% of 20-24 years to 38% at 25-29 years of age group ( p < 0.0001). We observed a high statistical significance in women ( % usage)  with 2 children ( 73%) and 1 male child( 57%). The usage of birth spacing has seen a decline with the number of girl children ( p< 0.0001) .Conclusion:Formal education has shown to increase contraceptive usage. Region and socio-economic status has shown no relation with the usage of contraception. The contraceptive usage was largely determined by the gender of the child and its relation to birth spacing needs to be studied further.