Contraceptive Practice of Clients Attending the Family Planning Clinic of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

Aim: To examine the socio-demographic characteristics, main source of information about family planning and contraceptive choices of women attending the family planning clinic of a tertiary hospital in Southwest Nigeria. Study Design: A retrospective descriptive analysis of the case records of all new clients. Place and Duration Family planning clinic of Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Nigeria between 1st January 2006 and 31st December 2011. Methods: This study was carried out on 733 new clients seeking contraceptive services within the study period. The age, marital status, parity, occupation, religion, ethnicity and educational level completed; source of information about family planning, interval between last confinement and first visit, and the intention of the clients were obtained. Results: A total of 733 new clients attended the family planning clinic during the period of review. There were 4145 new gynaecological consultations during the period and the contraceptive prevalence represented 17.6% of the total gynaecological consultations. The age of the clients ranged between 17 and 48 years with a mean of 32.5±5.5 years. There was a low patronage of family planning clinic by the teenagers and unmarried women as they accounted for only 0.3% and 2.9% respectively of all clients seen during the period. The source of information about family planning services was mainly from health personnel 516, (70.5%). IUCD and injectables were the most frequently selected methods irrespective of the socio-demographic characteristics of the clients, their intention for family planning uptake; and interval between last confinement and commencement of family planning. Conclusion: This study showed that unmarried females and teenagers had a poor patronage of conventional family planning centers. Instead of the health personnel, the mass media should play a pivotal and leading role in information dissemination so that awareness on the use and utilization of contraception will be higher than what it is presently.