A Study of Contraceptive Practices among Married Women in Rural and Urban Areas of District Amritsar

Contraceptive information and services are fundamental to the health and rights of all individuals. Most couples in India do not want to use a contraceptive method on a long-term basis for the fear of side-effects. Unplanned pregnancies are common. So the present study was planned to find out the contraceptive practices among married women in reproductive age group and also awareness levels regarding emergency contraception were explored among married women.

The present cross-sectional study was conducted in rural and urban field practice areas of Department of Community Medicine, SGRDIMSAR, Amritsar. Married women were selected by adopting simple random sampling technique. Pre-Designed, pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect information. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0.

The study depicted that 61.2% women in rural and 47.4% in urban area belonged to age group of 20–30 years. The present study revealed that 74.8% women in rural and 82.3% in urban area were aware about contraceptive methods.18.3% women in rural area and 41.7% in urban area were aware about emergency contraception. Out of those aware, use of emergency contraceptive pill was mentioned by 37.5% women in rural and 62.5% in urban area.

Education profile of women revealed that in rural area women were mainly educated below matric while in urban area women had education till matric. More than three fourth of women were using contraceptive methods in both rural and urban area in present study. Awareness levels about emergency contraception were low in both rural & urban areas.

There is need to educate women collectively through health facilities, media, government and non government organizations with emphasis on available methods of contraceptives.