Attitude of Couples towards Family Planning

Abstract

The study entitled 'Attitude of Couples towards Family-Planning' was conducted with an aim to assess knowledge, understanding and attitude of couples towards family planning across the two ecological settings of Jammu district. The influence of education on the attitude under consideration was also evaluated. Sample for the study comprised 200 married couples drawn from Jammu district through stratified random sampling technique. The tools for data collection included interview schedule, questionnaire and a rating scale. The results witnessed a high prevalence of illiteracy and associated ignorance among rural masses (35%) especially regarding the concepts and measures of family planning (χ2= 14.24, Sig. 1%). Majority of rural respondents especially women folk (51%) were unaware of concepts related to family planning. Condoms were by far the most favourable contraceptive measures across both settings (81% males and 77.5% females) followed by birth spacing pills (39%). The appropriate knowledge regarding other measures e.g. Copper-T (13.5%) and male sterilization was lacking. Further, urban respondent entrusted the contraceptive responsibility on their respective partners (43% males, 44% females), while rural couples (74% females and 64% males) followed the same age-old traditional concept of male dominance and superiority. Television and magazines were found to be the major accessible sources of information. Results from rating scale revealed a major difference (χ 2 = 54.66, Sig. 1%) in the attitude of respondents. Education was found to be significantly associated with the respective attitude of respondents towards family planning.