Contraception knowledge and practice among women in postpartum period at maternity and child Hospital Buriadah Al Qassium KSA

Contraception is an inherent part of a good health preventive care for women. Fertility is not a disease, and therefore, contraception is not a purely medical concern but an area for collaborative care in which women ask for information and help in planning their pregnancies. Proper childbirth spacing reduces infant and child morbidity and mortality. KSA community has very special socio-economic and religious background with the general refusal of contraception and family planning. However with the increase women education and public orientation of proper childbirth spacing which has great beneficial effects on mothers and children, it has been documented that the need and use of contraceptive methods has increased. On Medline research of literature published in English, few papers [8] were found discussing the matter. The aim of the study was to assess childbirth spacing knowledge and practice by women at Maternity and Child Hospital Buriadah A1 Qassium Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [KSA]. The study was conducted at that hospital from October 2004 till April 2005; a descriptive design was used for this study, the subjects were a convenient sample, a total of [200 women] attended MCH hospital for follow up postnatal checkup. The tools used for data collection were interviewed using questionnaire related to socio-demographic characteristics of the postnatal women such as age, education, occupation and their knowledge and practice of family planning and contraceptive methods. Moreover the researcher asked the study sample about their obstetrics history. Results show that the age ranges of the postnatal women were between 20 - 45 years old. More than half of the study sample [54.5%, 51%] have 1-2 gravida and number of children respectively may be because of their high education and they are still young enough to have more children later on. The most common source of family planning information was health worker at clinics [73%] closely followed by their friends. The most common reason for not practicing family planning was their husbands rejection. It was deduced the majority of the study sample [85%] was not practicing family planning. Among the women who do, oral contraceptive pill was the most popular method [20%]. It is recommended that there should always be husband involvement in family planning programs