Acceptance of Post-Partum Family Planning among Mothers Attending for Child Immunisation Services at Tertiary Care Hospital, Kolkata

Introduction:Postpartum family planning (PPFP) is avoidance of closely spaced and unplanned pregnancies by use of family planning services within first year following delivery.World Health Organisation (WHO) reports postpartum women to have greatest unmet need of contraception. There is further recommendation to link immunisation clinics to PPFP services.Objectives:1. To assess the acceptance rate ofPPFPamong mothers attending immunisation clinic 2. To explore the determinants of usage, intention to use and PPFP methods used. 3. To find the reasons for non-acceptance ofPPFP among the study participants. Method:Study participants werewomen attendingimmunisation clinicof a tertiary level teaching hospital of Kolkatafor child’s immunisation service. Studydesign was cross sectional.Systematic random sampling technique was used to recruit participants. Data was collected by interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaire.Frequencies and percentages for categorical variables while mean and standard deviation for continuous variables were calculated. Crude Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was calculated to explore strength of association between PPFP acceptance and independent variables.Results:About 1 in every 3 women (37.36%) was PPFP acceptor; intra uterine device was the most commonly used method. Odds of acceptance was lower for respondents’ age <25 years and primipara whileit was higher for exposure to counselling, having male child, resumption of sex and past use of contraception. Fear of adverse effects was the most common reason for non-acceptance of PPFP.Conclusions: PPFP acceptance was low, however among acceptors long acting reversible contraceptives were more commonly accepted methods. There is scope to improve PPFP acceptance with intensified contraceptive counselling during delivery and immediate hospital stay as women were afraid of adverse effects of contraceptives.