Journal of Advances in Medicine and Medical Research

Abstract

Aim: To examine the socio-demographic characteristics, main source of information about family planning and contraceptive choices of women attending the family planning clinic of a tertiary hospital in Southwest Nigeria.

Study Design: A retrospective descriptive analysis of the case records of all new clients.

Place and Duration: Family planning clinic of Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Nigeria between 1^st January 2006 and 31^st December 2011.

Methods: This study was carried out on 733 new clients seeking contraceptive services within the study period. The age, marital status, parity, occupation, religion, ethnicity and educational level completed; source of information about family planning, interval between last confinement and first visit, and the intention of the clients were obtained.

Results: A total of 733 new clients attended the family planning clinic during the period of review. There were 4145 new gynaecological consultations during the period and the contraceptive prevalence represented 17.6% of the total gynaecological consultations. The age of the clients ranged between 17 and 48 years with a mean of 32.5±5.5 years. There was a low patronage of family planning clinic by the teenagers and unmarried women as they accounted for only 0.3% and 2.9% respectively of all clients seen during the period. The source of information about family planning services was mainly from health personnel 516, (70.5%). IUCD and injectables were the most frequently selected methods irrespective of the socio-demographic characteristics of the clients, their intention for family planning uptake; and interval between last confinement and commencement of family planning.

Conclusion: This study showed that unmarried females and teenagers had a poor patronage of conventional family planning centers. Instead of the health personnel, the mass media should play a pivotal and leading role in information dissemination so that awareness on the use and utilization of contraception will be higher than what it is presently.