Pregnancy risk during menstrual cycle: misconceptions among urban men in India

Prashant Verma,Anjali Singh,Kaushalendra Kumar Singh

doi:10.1186/s12978-017-0332-3

Abstract

BackgroundIn India, where men take most decisions in the family, it is useful that they have adequate knowledge about pregnancy risks during women’s menstrual cycles. Since traditional contraceptive methods are still employed by a large population in India, the knowledge regarding the pregnancy risk during the menstrual cycle is indispensable. This research paper attempts to assess the knowledge among urban men in Uttar Pradesh, India about the fertile window of the menstrual cycle; it also attempts to discover the rationales behind the misconceptions about the concept.MethodsThis study utilizes the baseline data of the Measurement, Learning, and Evaluation project for the Urban Reproductive Health Initiative in Uttar Pradesh. Descriptive Statistics has been used to assess the prevalence of knowledge among urban men regarding the concept. Using the Discriminant Analysis, we also investigate the rationales behind the misconceptions among urban men about the concept.ResultsOnly one-fifth of the men have the correct knowledge about the concept. Further, we find that education, societal perception, caste, and spousal discussion about the reproductive issues are the primary factors affecting the knowledge about the pregnancy risk during the menstrual cycle.ConclusionsThere is an urgent need for sex education in the region to make the urban men more educated about the reproductive process of women; this may reduce unwanted births and abortion due to an unwanted pregnancy as well. The study promotes the higher education and motivates couples to discuss the reproductive health issues among them. In this manner, we can provide better reproductive health to the women of urban India.

Highlights

In India, where men take most decisions in the family, it is useful that they have adequate knowledge about pregnancy risks during women’s menstrual cycles
Plain English summary In India, traditional contraceptive methods are employed by a large population, and most of the time decisions related to family planning are taken by the men of the household
It is essential to note that only one-fifth of the men have the correct information about pregnancy risk during the menstrual cycle, while the remaining four-fifth of them do not have the accurate information about this concept

Summary

Introduction

In India, where men take most decisions in the family, it is useful that they have adequate knowledge about pregnancy risks during women’s menstrual cycles. In India, where men take most family decisions, it is important that they have the adequate knowledge about the pregnancy risk during women’s menstrual cycle. Researchers and policy makers often talk about woman’s knowledge regarding the procreative process [8], and [9], men’s knowledge about the reproductive process is as indispensable as their decision making in the family As it is argued, erroneous information about the risk of conception during the menstrual cycle may lead to increased fertility [10]. It is realized that only 18.4% of the men in rural eastern part of Uttar Pradesh had the correct information about the time of maximum conception risk during the menstrual cycle, while 43.2% did not have any idea about this concept [11]

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Conclusion