Misconceptions and Spousal Communication about Family Planning among Women of a Rural Community in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Purpose: Communication between the spouse on family planning issues predisposes to the approval of the man for the wife to use contraceptives. Most don't even initiate communication as a result of misconceptions surrounding family planning. This study examined how misconception and spousal communication affect the use of family planning. Methods: The study was a cross sectional study carried out in a rural community. Multistage sampling technique was used in selecting 464 women of reproductive age group. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information from the participants by trained research assistants. Data was entered into SPSS version 25 and analysis was carried out. Univariate analysis was done using mean, and tables, bivariate analysis was done using chi square and level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 32.5 ± 8.1, 110 (23.7%) had ever used contraceptive. Out of the respondents, 150 (32.3%) agreed that family planning can cause infertility and 188 (40.5%) agreed that it makes women gain weight. One hundred and seventy-six (37.9%) had discussed family planning with their husbands out of which 167 (94.9%) got approval from them. Among respondents that discussed family planning with their husband, 66 (37.5%) of them had ever used family planning and those that didn't discussed only 44 (15.3%) ever used contraceptive. This difference is statistically different with p value of p < 0.05. Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practice: Spousal communication increases the utilization of family planning therefore; women should be encouraged to discuss with their husbands. This study will contribute to policy on improvement of family planning utilization when married couples are allowed to attend joint session focused on educating couples on the need, benefits and misconceptions surrounding family planning.