Male perception and practices on family planning:A comparative study among urban and rural males of Dhading district.

Thesis Report.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction: Family planning is a vital and integral component of Primary Health Care. It has been considered as a woman's affair. However, men have dominant and significant influences in family planning. The knowledge and attitude of men towards family planning determines its adoption, which is also affected by various factors like place of residence, marital status, religion, education level, socioeconomic status, fertility preferences, number of sexual partners. However, men are neglected while designing and evaluating family planning programs. This study aims to assess knowledge, attitude and practices of rural and urban men of Dhading district and the factors affecting the use of family planning methods by men.

Methodology: A cross sectional analytical study was done in rural and urban region of Dhading district. The participants were 446 men; 223 each from rural and urban region. The questionnaire assessed respondent's socio-demographic details, knowledge, attitude and practices of family planning. Knowledge and attitude were categorized according to their score into poor and good; practice was categorized according to use and non-use of men family planning methods and rural-urban differentials were assessed. Further, effects of socio-demographic, socio-economic factors on x knowledge and attitude towards family planning and their ultimate effect on practices of family planning was studied.

Results: More than half (57.0%) of the rural respondents had poor knowledge, and in contrast, 59.6% of the urban respondents had good knowledge on family planning (p<0.001). Similarly, nearly half (52.9%) of the respondents in rural region had poor attitude and interestingly, 52.9% of the urban respondents had good attitude towards family planning. It was seen that 32.3% of rural and 45.3% urban respondents were current users of family planning methods. Various factors like: current age of respondent and wife, age at marriage of respondent, religion, number of children, type of family, education of wife, occupation of husband, knowledge regarding emergency contraceptives and attitude towards wife sterilization affected practices of family planning.

Conclusions: The study revealed that more than half of the rural respondents had poor knowledge, attitude and practices of family planning as compared to the urban respondents. Hence, we can say that rural regions should be focused more while planning for various family planning programs. Multi sectoral coordination and encouraging men for participation will raise their knowledge, develop positive attitude and ultimately increase the practice of family planning.

Keywords: Attitude, Family planning, Knowledge, Male involvement, Practice