Knowledge and Factors Influencing the Use of Family Planning Among Women of Childbearing Age in Ife Central, Osun State
Chapter One
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge and factors influencing the use of family planning among mothers in Ife Central, Osun State, Nigeria. The specific purposes of the study are to assess:
- the knowledge on family planning among mothers in Ife Central, Osun State, Nigeria.
- the attitude of mothers towards family planning in Ife Central, Osun state, Nigeria.
- the practice of family planning among mothers in Ife Central, Osun State, Nigeria.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Conceptual Framework
Family planning has attracted attentions all over the world due to its relevance in decision making. Population growth and development (Samuel 2010), defined family planning as the practice that helps individuals or couples to attain certain objectives such as avoiding unwanted pregnancies, bringing about wanted babies at the right time, regulating, the interval between pregnancies, controlling the time at which birth occurs in relation to the ages of parents and determining the number of children in the family. Family planning is a means of reproductive health. In spite of the hue and cry in and outside Nigeria about family planning or birth control. Individuals are still confused about its meaning, the methods involved, the advantages and disadvantages and the factors hindering its wide application in Nigeria, (Hiffh and Ezeah, 2014).
According to Kende (2013), family planning is of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans which include sexual education, prevention and management of sexual transmitted disease (STDS), pre-conception counseling and management of infertility. It further conceptualizes that family planning educational, comprehensive, medical or social activities which enable individual‟s .to determine freely the number and spacing of their children and to select the means by which this may be achieved.
Brown, (2010), Views family planning as the deliberate prevention or delaying of birth by means of sexual abstinence, contraception, sterilization, abortion, and prolonged breast feeding or it is the policies, program, services designed to assist people in practicing birth control. Women`s education resulted in women empowerment and it enable them to use family planning services more effectively. WHO (2013) found out that women`s education is in line with lower fertility which constitutes management of reproduction resources, maternal education has been linked with reduction of child mortality among rural dwellers. Women`s education enhances their capability and also their reproductive rights to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have other necessary information regarding reproductive rights. Studies have shown that education is a determinant of awareness of family planning practices in Nigeria. For instance, Olaitan (2011) concluded a study on factors influencing the choice of family planning among couples in South East Nigeria. The findings revealed that educational background of the couples significantly influenced the choice of family planning among couples.
There is a growing awareness to the negative effects of unlimited childbirth, on the health of women, the children and society. This awareness stems from the alarm raised about the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of any country. It is as a result of this that family planning was introduced to help guide the choice and timing of pregnancy in order that childbirth is controlled. This program has help tremendously in the reduction of birth rate in developed countries yet the trends seem unchanging in the developing countries.
In Nigeria, the condition has been very bad as the annual birthrate ranges between 4.8% and 5.5%. it portends danger for developmental aspiration; and specially rural areas, there is a dragging context over family planning misunderstanding between couples emanating from family planning. This with health, social and financial problems from broken homes, which in turn poses serious dangers to the society and the individuals involved.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
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Introduction
The purpose of this study was to assess knowledge and factors influencing the use of family planning among mothers in Ife Central, Osun State, Nigeria. To achieve the above stated Purpose, the research design, the population, sample and sampling procedure, instrumentation, validity of the instrument, pilot study, procedures for data collection and procedure for data analysis are presented and described in this chapter.
Research Design
Ex-post-facto research design was considered suitable for this study, since there would be no manipulation of information from the respondents by the researcher. Ex-postfacto research design is a method of testing possible antecedents of events that had happened which cannot be manipulated or controlled (Ademuwagun, 2012).
Population of the Study
The population of the study comprised of 72, 844 mothers of reproductive age (15 – 49years) in Osun State, Nigeria. Based on the data collected by (World Population Women Data Sheet, 2014), the number of Women in Osun state was approximately 1,104,117 out of which 72,844 estimate number were mothers of the three (3) already existing senatorial districts in Osun State.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Results
Before the presentation of results and discussion of key findings, according to the formulated hypotheses the demographic characteristics of the respondents are presented in table 2.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
The purpose of this study was to assess knowledge and factors influencing the use of family planning among mothers in Ife Central, Osun state, Nigeria. Three purposes, three research questions and three hypotheses respectively were formulated and tested for this study. Related literature was reviewed under the conceptual framework, theoretical framework and empirical studies. Ex-post-facto research design was adopted for this study. The population of the study comprised of 72,844 mothers of reproductive age 15 – 49 years within the three already existing senatorial districts in Osun state of Nigeria where two wards were sampled from each local government area for the study. Samples of three hundred and eighty-four (384) respondents were sampled using proportionate sampling procedure. And three hundred and eighty-four (384) copies of questionnaires were purposively administered to the respondents, out of these; three hundred and seventy-nine (379) were dully field and returned. Data collected was analyzed with statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 20) using frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation, one-sample t-test in testing the formulated hypotheses. Null hypothesis one was rejected while hypothesis two and three were retained. The findings of this study revealed that Mothers in Ife Central, Osun state of Nigeria have significant knowledge of family planning. However, the attitude and practices of mothers in Ife Central, Osun state towards family planning were negative indicating that even though the mothers have knowledge of family planning, it was not translated into positive used.
Summary of Major Findings
The following are the summary of the findings;
- Mothers in Ife Central, Osun state of Nigeria are knowledgeable about family planning (t=3.201; p value < 0.021).
- Mothers in Ife Central, Osun state of Nigeria have negative attitude towards family planning (t= 1.291; p=0.18).
- Mothers in Ife Central, Osun state of Nigeria do not practice family planning (t=1.039; p value=1.05).
Conclusion
Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were drawn; 1. Mothers in Ife Central, Osun state of Nigeria are knowledge about family planning p value < 0.021.
- Mothers in Ife Central, Osun state of Nigeria has negative attitude towards family planning p=0.18.
- Mothers in Ife Central, Osun state of Nigeria do not practice family planning p value=1.05.
Recommendations
On the basis of the conclusions drawn, the following recommendations were made:
- Federal, State and Local Government health authorities should encourage women in sustaining their knowledge of family planning through community mobilization and enlighten programme.
- Federal, State and Local Government should organize community programmes for friends/relations where forums of free discussions on family planning can be held for a better understanding of the use of family planning methods.
- The health directorate in collaboration with the family planning unit should roll out more programmes such as organizing workshops and seminars to educate married couples on the benefits of family planning practices; this will bridge the gap between knowledge and practices of family planning.
Contributions to Knowledge
This study has made concerted effort to:
- Established useful information on family planning which will continue to serve as source of information research findings.
- Enable the client to benefit from the awareness programmes that are provided by the health educators in areas that are related to family planning.
- The study established that mothers in Ife Central, Osun state of Nigeria have significant knowledge of family planning.
- The study sensitizes the policy makers in creating policies that would buttress family planning practices.
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