Determinants of Use of Family Planning Methods Among Postpartum Women At University of Ghana Hospital

Abstract

Background: Postpartum family planning (PPFP) is the prevention of unintended or closely spaced pregnancies within first year following delivery. Family planning (FP) is essential during the course of an individual's and couple's reproductive life (WHO, 2013). Globally, two hundred and twenty-five (225) million women do not want to become pregnant but are not using any family planning method; leading to 54 million unintended pregnancies. Objective: To assess the determinants and use of postpartum family planning methods among women attending child welfare clinic at University of Ghana Hospital. Also to identify the method used and the prevalence of contraceptive use among postpartum women. Method: The study used purposive and convenient sampling design. The study considered only postpartum women between 18 and 49 years, who had delivered between 6 months to 12 months prior to the study and attending the child welfare clinic at University of Ghana Hospital (UG). Bivariate analysis using chi-squared tests of association as well as logistic regression were adopted to determine the relationship between socio-demographic factors as well as health related factors and postpartum family planning use Results: It was found that less than half (43%) of the women were currently using family planning methods. Also, the contraceptive methods currently used among the postpartum women were dominated by injectable (32.2%), pills (23.6%), intrauterine device (18.9) and condoms (12.6%); with the main reason for use being spacing (79.1%) and delaying of childbirth (19.7%). Conclusions: The prevalence of contraceptive use (43.0%) was relatively low among postpartum mothers and thus, lasting educational measures must therefore be put in place by the Hospital authorities and other health related organizations to increase postpartum family planning uptake due to the negative impact or effect of short inter pregnancy interval on the mother, baby and national developments.