Perception and practice of family planning in the extended postpartum period

Background: During the postpartum period, family planning (FP) can prevent about 30% of maternal mortality and 10% of child mortality if couples space their pregnancies more than 2 years apart. Conversely, closely spaced pregnancies within the first year postpartum increase the risks of preterm birth, low birth weight, and small-for-gestational-age babies.

Objective: To determine the perception and practice of family planning in the extended postpartum period.

Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among women in the extended postpartum period, attending the Gynaecology clinic, family planning clinic, and infant welfare clinic of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos. Information obtained includes socio-demographic data, spouse education, and income, knowledge of, attitude towards, and utilization of family planning methods along with the partner’s involvement in decision-making towards arrival at choice methods. The data obtained were processed and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0

Results: The majority of the respondents (92.7%) were aware of family planning but only 33.7% are currently using a modern method. The most known methods were condoms (72.4%) and injectable (60.5%) while the predominant source of information was the electronic media in 78.4% of respondents.  About half of the respondents (53.1%) had their male partners using condoms while three-quarters used them to space children. Three-quarters of those women not currently on contraception intended to adopt a method anytime within the extended postpartum period. Only the progressive increase in infant age showed a statistically significant relationship with contraceptive use.

Conclusion: Despite the high incidence of awareness of family planning, only one-third of the respondents were currently using a method. It was recommended that repackaged antenatal and postnatal health talks should address various methods of family planning and their safety.