Spousal communication in contraceptive decisions among antenatal patients in Calabar, south eastern Nigeria.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to determine how many women in Calabar urban community actually discuss with their spouses about family planning, how their spouses view family planning and how that affects their usage of family planning facilities. METHOD: The study was conducted using a structured questionnaire which was administered by house officers and medical students on one thousand consecutive patients who attended antenatal care during the study period Seven hundred patients met the inclusion criteria for the study. RESULT: Fifty six percent of the respondents in the study have never discussed family planning with their spouses. About 15% of the respondents have the same view on family planning with their husbands while 11% of the women themselves do not want family planning even though their husbands wanted it. CONCLUSION: Communication between couples about family planning should be encouraged. Whereas women have common meeting points like antenatal clinics to learn more about contraceptives and family planning, the men rarely have such opportunities. They will therefore benefit from discussing with their spouses who are opportuned to learn from the various clinics. Spousal communication should therefore be emphasized in these clinics where contraception and family planning are taught.