Knowledge, attitude and practice of husbands towards modern family planning in Mukalla, Yemen

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2007
Authors
Yahya Khamis Ahmed Almualm
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The aim of this study is to asses the knowledge, attitude and practice of modern family planning among husbands in Mukalla, Yemen. This study was a crossXV sectional study involving 400 husbands living in Alamol and Almustagbal quarters in Mukalla. These husbands were selected from households randomly selected from the two quarters. Husbands who do not meet pre-determined criteria were replaced with those from the nearest house. The selected husbands were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The prevalence of family planning practice among the husbands were 39.0% and 44.3% among their wives. Only 44 (11.0%) of the husbands and 83 (20.8%) of the wives were currently practicing modern family planning. There were only 77 couples (19.3%) where both husbands and wives have practiced family planning, 79 (19.8%) of couples where husbands practice but their wives do not, 100 (25.0%) of couples where husbands do not practice but wives do and 144 (36.0%) where both husbands and wives do not practice any family planning. Among users, the condom was the most common method used by the husbands (88.6%), while the pill was the most common method used by wives (54.2%) followed closely by intra-uterine devices (43.4%). More than 90% of husbands knew about pills, intra-uterine devices and condoms. Most of the husbands (89.3%) have positive attitudes towards family planning and agreed that modern methods are more effective than traditional methods. The majority of husbands (51.3%) agree that husbands should also practice family planning. However, 172 husbands (43.0%) felt that family planning should be practiced only by the wife. About 282 husbands (70.5%) believed that the decision regarding practice of family planning should be decided by husbands and 225 (56.3%) felt the wife only should decide on practicing family planning. The results indicate ambivalence by some husbands on the main decision maker for family planning practice. Nearly all husbands (>90%) were aware of the common types of family planning except for male sterilization (51.0%). Male sterilization is uncommon in this study compared to female sterilization, which may explain the lower level of awareness. Very few husbands (2.0%) had poor attitude scores towards family planning. Among the positive attitude husbands, 132 (33.0%) had moderate scores while 247 (61.8%) had good scores and only 13 (3.3%) of the husbands had very good scores indicating that the husbands generally have positive attitudes towards family planning. Multiple regression analysis of the total knowledge score revealed significant association with years completed education of husband, years completed education of wife and the number of living children. For the attitude score, multiple linear regression analysis revealed a significant association with years completed education of husbands, the number of living children and monthly income of the wives. Family planning programs in Yemen should also focus on Yemeni husbands to participate as joint decision makers in modern family planning practice. This can be achieved through targeted family planning education and promotion programs to Yemeni husbands. Religious leaders must be involved in clarifying religious issues regarding family planning.
Description
Master
Keywords
Biological science , Husband , Modern family planning
Citation