Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Family Planning Among Scheduled Caste Women of Jorhat District, Assam

Background: Despite the fact that the usage of family planning methods has increased over a period of time, there exists a knowledge, attitude and practice gap among the peoples of various groups in our society regarding age, religion, caste, community etc. The objective of the study was to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice of different family planning methods among the women of schedule caste community. Methods: A community based cross sectional study was done among 104 married women of the reproductive age group. Result: Most of the women (50%) were in the age group (25-34) years.77.5% of the study participants were unemployed. Only 13.6% women had completed graduation. Average age at marriage was 19.73±3.813 years. Almost 96.1% women knew about any one method of contraception. The most common source of information was mass media (76.8%). 87.2% had positive attitude towards family planning. 65.7% females were using family planning methods currently. 25.4% were using traditional while 75.6% were using any type of modern methods. OCP is the most popular contraceptive method (47%) followed by condom (21.6%). Majority of females (40%) were using contraceptive methods for spacing of birth. 84% user said that they did not get any side effect. 53.3% women did not use any type of family planning method because they want children. Conclusion: Our study highlights that more strategic approach should be recommended to develop the socio-economic and demographic status in relation to fertility and family planning aspects for the people of scheduled caste community