KNOWLEDGE REGARDING CONTRACEPTIVE METHODS AMONG MARRIED WOMEN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE GROUP

Uncontrolled population growth is recognised as the single most important impediment to national development and birth control is the first important step woman must be taken to keep a check over uncontrolled population. Often family planning is used as synonym for birth control. The main objective of family planning programme is to assist individuals and couples to space and/or limit their children prevent unwanted pregnancy, improve their overall reproductive and child health. Contraception is one of the major components of Reproductive health programme. The use of contraceptive measures constituted the backbone of the programme. Therefore, assessing the current level of the knowledge regarding contraceptive devices among general population is very important so that the further planning can be done for educational teaching programmers to enhance their knowledge. Aim: This study was conducted to assess knowledge regarding selected contraceptive methods among married women attending gynae opd, Govt. Multi speciality hospital-16, Chandigarh. Setting and Design: Govt. Multi speciality hospital-16, Chandigarh was the setting for the study. Quantitative research approach and a descriptive research design was used for the study. Material and Methods: The study was conducted on a sample of 100 married women between the age group of 15-49 yrs of age attending gynae opd, Govt. Multi speciality hospital-16, Chandigarh using simple random sampling. Data was collected using self structured multiple choice questionnaire on contraceptive method usage. The collected data was organized, tabulated, analyzed and interpreted using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The findings of the study revealed that out of 100 married women majority i.e. 54% of the respondents had good level of knowledge and near about 40% had average knowledge. It has been concluded from the present study that respondents have basic knowledge of contraception but detailed knowledge about contraceptive methods was not known to the women. Therefore, the health talk was given to enhance the knowledge of the subjects regarding the topic.