Willingness to Use Long Acting Reversible Contraceptives in Women Within Six Months of Delivery: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

Sagheera Anjum Munaver, Rozina Mustafa, Amber Tufail, Maryam Fatima

Abstract

Objective:

To explore women's willingness to use long acting reversible contraceptives within six months post-delivery.

Study design:

Observational cross sectional study.

Place and duration:

Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Fazaia Ruth Pfau Medical College Hospital Karachi, from July 2022 to December 2022.

Methods:

The study included women who had recently given birth and seeking family planning, or bringing infants for vaccinations. Women with irregular menstrual cycles or abnormal vaginal discharge were excluded. A survey questionnaire was developed and used for the study. SPSS version 24 was used for data analysis. The Chi-square / Fisher-Exact test were applied to find the association of willingness to use long acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) with general characteristics of the patients. A p value of ≤0.05 was considered as significant.

Results:

Out of 289 women surveyed, 243 (84%) heard of long acting reversible contraceptives. Willingness to use them was reported by 189 (65.4%) with majority agreed to use intrauterine contraceptive device (40%) and implants (30.9%). LARCs were used by 84 (29.1%) women with majority using injectable contraception (39.3%). A significant association of LARC use was observed with the age (p=0.03), occupation of the patients (p=0.04), last date of delivery (p<0.001), previous menstrual cycle (p=0.02), most recent pregnancy intention (p<0.001), and current comorbidity (p=0.01).

Conclusion:

Despite a significant number of women showing willingness to use long acting reversible contraceptives the utilization rate remained modest at 29.1%. This highlights the need for targeted interventions to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice.

Keywords:

Postpartum contraception, LARC, Barriers, Unintended pregnancies, Family planning.