A study of attitude, awareness, and knowledge of vasectomy among married men in urban slums of Chennai, Tamil nadu, India

Abstract

Background: Sterilization is a permanent birth control method, with nearly twice as many couples, are choosing female sterilization over male sterilization. Vasectomy is a safe, cheaper, less complicated, and simple procedure in permanent sterilization methods than tubectomy. Aim and objective: To assess attitude, awareness, and knowledge of vasectomy among married men in urban slums of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Materials and methods: It is a descriptive cross-sectional study carried among married men in the urban slums of Chennai age 21–49. Simple random sampling is used to select the respondents. Descriptive analysis was done using appropriate R studio software. Results: Among our 132 respondents, most of them are from 20 to 29 (40.90%). About 84% of the participants heard about vasectomy. Awareness of contraceptive methods is mostly through television (75%) and by their family and friends (72%). Our study discovered a gap in the knowledge and attitudes toward vasectomy, which the study revealed that respondents had moderate knowledge but had a negative attitude toward vasectomy. Conclusion: Many men believe that avoiding pregnancy is exclusively the woman’s responsibility. Men and women differed in their experience of sterilization. Family and physicians have an important role in ensuring that women know contraception options before the sterilization procedure. Adequate health education campaigns and regular counseling can bring out positive attitudes among people on vasectomy in the future.