Attitude of Spouse towards Family Planning: A Study among Married Men and Women of a Rural Community in West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh

ABSTRACT The fertility data indicate that there is a need to change to scenario of contraception use in India. The present paper reports the attitude of spouse on the practice of family planning in a rural population from West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, India. The information was collected through in-depth interviews with structured questionnaire. A considerable proportion of people reported that their spouse encouraged to adopt family planning. And very few people reported that their spouse opposed and discouraged the use of family planning methods. There was no trend of association with attitude of spouse with age and caste of respondents. But literacy and occupation had influence. In addition, majority of respondents opined that female sterilising (tubectomy) was a better permanent sterilization. No apparent association was seen between this attitude and characteristics of the respondent. Also, more than two-thirds of men and less than half of women reported that they advised others to adopt family planning. Family panning through contraception tries to achieve the principal objective to have only the desired number of children. Hence, the study warrants improving the attitude of the people, in favour of family planning and special strategies are to be planned to improve the involvement of men. Address for correspondence