WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Awuni Prosper Mandela Amaltinga*, Mbinta Fenibe James and Abugri Osman Bright

ABSTRACT

The study looks at the BIA District in the Western Region of Ghana where unmet need of contraceptives is low with fluctuations between 22.4% and 20.8%. The objective of the study was to examine factors influencing contraceptive uptake among women of reproductive age (15 – 49 years) and sexually active women. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used and 268 participants were selected through simple random and systematic sampling techniques from six sub-districts from January to November 2019. The study adapted the Health Belief Model (HBM) as a conceptual framework to explain and predict behaviors. Chi-square test was used to determine associations between socio-demographic variables and contraceptives use. Results were considered statistically significant if p value was < 0.05. Results: Most (58.6%) of the respondents reported ever using contraceptive method while 41.4% did not use any contraceptive method. 73.5% of respondents agreed that using contraceptives is beneficial to the mother and the family. However, respondents constituting 55.2% agreed that contraceptive use has serious negative side effects on users. Most of the respondents (54.9%) feared using contraceptives because of their partners. There was an association between contraceptive use and religion (p<0.001), culture (p<0.001), fear to use contraceptives (p<0.001), benefit to use (p<0.031), expensive in acquisition (p<0.001), and negative side effect (p<0.001). However, there were no associations between contraceptives use and marital status of the respondents. Conclusion: The finding showed that almost half of the respondents have never used any form of contraceptives. It implies that if this trend continues there will be increased in unplanned pregnancies and high population growth. This may also affect the maternal and child health as there will not be enough spacing between pregnancies. Comprehensive sexual education should be included in the educational curriculum to promote education of contraceptives.

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