Use of family planning methods among 15-49 age group women and affecting factors in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Abstract

Objective: This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the use of family planning methods among women in 15-49 age group living in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the factors affecting method use. Material and Methods: A total of 334 women who were selected from villages and neighbourhoods in Is-kele region by using cluster sampling and random sampling methods, constituted the sample group. Data were collected by interviewing the women with the researcher, and the written informed consents had been obtained. Statistical Program for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows 15.0 was used for calculating the percentages and mean values of the data. For further analyses, Chi-square, and Fisher's exact test and backward Wald multivariate logistic regression analysis were used. Results: In the study, the mean age of the women was 33.5 ± 7.9 years; 43.7% of them were the citizens of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus; 74.9% were not working and 98.8% were married. The mean number of pregnancy was 2.9 ± 1.3; live births was 2.2 ± 1.0; the mean number of spontanoeus abortions was 1.2 ± 0.4 and of curretages was 1.5 ± 0.7. Of the women, 99.7% stated that they had heard a family planning methods; 96.1% of them stated that they had used any methods and 83.5% stated that they were using some methods; 44.0% of the women were using modern, and 39.5% using traditional methods. Thirty-five per cent of the women were still using coitus interruptus, 17.3% were using tube ligation, 13.7 were using intrauterin devices. According to logistic regression analysis, it was determined that risk of not using modern methods is 4.4 folds greater among the women who have one live birth compared to the ones with three live births, risk of using any method is 3.7 folds greater in the women whose number of gestations is two compared to the ones whose number of gestations is four, risk of not using any methods is five-fold greater among the women whose number of abortions is two and above compared to the ones with no abortions. Conclusion: Constituting family planning service units and effectively providing education and consultancy services are recommended in order to increase the use of modern family planning methods among the women who prefer traditional methods. © 2011 by Türkiye Klinikleri.