Pattern of contraceptive practice in Rural Kashmir.

Research Question: What is the present pattern of family planning practices and level of knowledge among currently married women in rural Kashmir. Objectives: To determine the contraceptive prevalence in currently married women, in 15-49 yrs age groups, to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of contraceptives among women and to study the effect of social and demographic factors on contraceptive use in rural Kashmir. Study Design & Setting: Community based cross-sectional study of rural households; studied between December 2006 and May 2008. Participants: 1900 currently married women in the age group of 15-49 yrs of age. Methods: 1900 currently married women, aged 15-49 years, selected by multi-stage random sampling technique from three districts of Kashmir valley who were interviewed at home using a pretested oral questionnaire. The assessment of various socioeconomic and other variables made as per the available standard procedures and scales. Results: Prevalence of contraception was 62.6 % among ever users and 47.8 % among current users, the prevalence of female sterilization was maximum (71.6 %) followed by condom (7.2 %) and natural methods (6.4 %). Prevalence of various contraceptive methods did not differ significantly across the various districts studied in Kashmir valley. The two child norm was breached by two thirds of the studied population. Knowledge of permanent methods was much greater than modern spacing methods. Mass media was the most common source of information about contraceptive methods and the Government sector was the main source of family planning supplies/services of contraceptives. Among the various socio-demographic variables, women’s age, socio-economic status, literacy, number of living children, gender of living children, duration of married life and type of family were the significant factors affecting contraceptive use. Conclusions: Preference of terminal sterilization methods over spacing methods observed in the present study as a family planning approach needs special attention and there is a need to shift women centric approach to couple centric approach for family planning. Extensive mass awareness campaign at regional level about types, advantages, availability and use of spacing methods is required and locally field workers need to apply Behavior Change Communication (BCC) methods to motivate the couples to accept the spacing methods for better maternal and child health