Determinants of female health workers’ attitude toward spouses’ use of vasectomy for family planning

Abstract

Background: Vasectomy is an effective and safe surgical method of male contraception. It is simpler than female tubal ligation and has fewer complications. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of selected demographic characteristics on female health workers’ attitudes to spouses’ use of vasectomy for birth controlMaterials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of female health workers in two tertiary health institutions in Enugu, Southeast Nigeria. Data were collected using a pretested structured self-administered questionnaire. Data were collected on sociodemographic characteristics and attitudes toward vasectomy. Results: Two hundred and ninety female health workers completed the questionnaire. The mean age of participants was 32.26 ± 9.39 years. Approximately 66.6% of the women were less than 35 years and 53.1% were married. Only 21.0% of the respondents would encourage their spouses or partners to undergo vasectomy after they have had their desired number of children. Half of the women (50.0%) would prefer to have their tubes tied (tubal ligation) and 63.1% had never discussed vasectomy with their spouses or partners. Younger women (<35 years) were significantly more likely to encourage their spouses/partners to have a vasectomy (odds ratio [OR] 2.1289; P = 0.0231). However, ever-married women (OR 0.1296; P = 0.0000) and women who have had children (OR 0.1767; P = 0.0000) were significantly less likely to do the same. Nurses were more likely to encourage their spouses to undertake vasectomy compared to doctors (OR 2.4750; P = 0.0041). Conclusion: Vasectomy is not widely accepted among our female health workers; only a fifth of them would encourage their spouses/partners to have a vasectomy.