Abstract
Background: This study analysed the views of a stratified sample of 444 older adult women from selected health districts in Botswana on their family planning (FP) use, knowledge, accessibility and availability.Methods: Four health districts (two rural and two urban) were purposively selected. The sample of 444 older adults was proportionally allocated to the districts. The snowball technique was used in identifying older adults from each district.Results: Contraceptive prevalence among the older adults is low (25. 2%); ever used rate was 23.6%, with unmet need as high as 75.2%. The traditional methods are mainly used. Knowledge, availability and accessibility of the natural methods are high. The likelihood ratio test shows that age, educational status, marital status and employment jointly significantly predicts (p 0.05) the use of FP.Conclusion: Family planning programme developers and policy-makers should develop educational interventions that will be age specific and relevant to older adults.
Highlights
Planning (FP) has been defined as a conscious decision by individuals or couples to choose for themselves when to start having children, how many children to have, how to space them or when to stop having children using contraception and/or natural methods.[1]
The level of unmet need for contraceptive use for older adults is, at 75.4%, more than three times that for the younger women in the Kenya study[34] and more than six times the worldwide value in 2015, where 12% of married or in-union women are estimated to have had an unmet need for family planning[40] The level is very much higher than the 22% in the least developed countries, many of which are in sub-Saharan Africa, which is the region where unmet need was highest (24%), and double the world average in 2015
Among the socioeconomic factors that influence use of contraceptives by older adults the findings reveal that age of the older adult women and their employment status are the significant predictors of contraceptive use, while marital status and education are not significant
Summary
Planning (FP) has been defined as a conscious decision by individuals or couples to choose for themselves when to start having children, how many children to have, how to space them or when to stop having children using (modern) contraception and/or natural methods.[1] Having another baby within a year of giving birth can be physically traumatic. This study analysed the views of a stratified sample of 444 older adult women from selected health districts in Botswana on their family planning (FP) use, knowledge, accessibility and availability. The sample of 444 older adults was proportionally allocated to the districts. Availability and accessibility of the natural methods are high. Conclusion: Family planning programme developers and policy-makers should develop educational interventions that will be age specific and relevant to older adults
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