Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Child Adoption among Infertile Female Patients in Sokoto North-West Nigeria

Abstract

To determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of child adoption among infertile female patients at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH) Sokoto. Semi structured interview questionnaire was administered to 250 consecutive infertile female patients (between January 2008 and November 2009) at UDUTH Sokoto who agreed to participate in the study after counseling. The data was analysed by simple percentages, descriptive statistics, chi-square tests and regression equations at 95% confidence level. Knowledge of child adoption was high (74.8%). However only 1.2% of the respondents had adopted a child while 27.2% were willing to adopt. Willingness for child adoption was significantly higher in patients whose duration of infertility was greater than 5 years (OR=6.0, P<0.001), those with secondary/tertiary education (OR=4.1, P<0.001) and in those with no living child (OR=24.9, P<0.001) compared to their reverse counterpart. Majority of the respondents (71.6%) were not willing to adopt a child and their main reason was that child adoption would not allow them fulfill their conception role as women. Knowledge of child adoption was high among the respondents but the willingness to adopt a child was low due to the fact that it would not allow them fulfill their conception role as women. There is need to educate and encourage our infertile patients to utilise this cheaper and available option of managing infertility.