ABSTRACT
The service area of Public Health Department of Ankara, University Medical School is the catchment area of Park Education Health Centre, in which regular family planning services have been provided for a long period of time. The purpose of this study was to determine the fertility characteristics, knowledge, attitude and practice regarding contraceptive methods in the region and to reevaluate the services. A cross-sectional study was carried out by filling a questionnaire in house to house visits to 359 women who were chosen by random sampling from 3500 between 15-49 years old living in the region. Demographic characteristics, number of pregnancies, deliveries and abortions were obtained.Percentage of contraceptive methods were determined and their relations with factors like age and educational level were investigated. The average number of pregnancies was 3.83, of live births was 2.53 and of abortions was 1.29. The number of pregnancies and births increased with age and decreased with higher educational level. A total of 80.7% of women were using one contraceptive method, while 11.9% did not need to use a method [sterility, menopause, etc.] and 7.4% were not using any method.Among the users 61. 4% preferred modern methods. Of all the methods used, the most frequent method was IUD and the second was coitus interruptus. The ratio of non-users and traditional method users increased with age and low educational level. Knowledge and attitude of the women regarding contraceptives were also investigated. It was seen that their knowledge on adverse effects and usage of oral contraceptives in particular was not sufficient. It was concluded to emphasize one-to-one counseling practices besides public training and to focus on women of older age and lower education as a priority risk group in order to increase the use of modern methods and maintain appropriate usage