Abstract

ASSESSMENT OF AWARENESS AND BELIEFS REGARDING INTRA UTERINE DEVICE AMONGST ITS FORMER USERS ATTENDING TERTIARY CARE CENTRE IN GUJARAT

Author(s):Jogiya Priyanka D, Lodhiya Kaushik K, Chavada Paras

Background: Only 1.8% of married women of reproductive age in India use IUDs despite its advantages over Hormonal pills or permanent methods. The present study was done to study the awareness of the mothers about IUD which affects its utilisation. Method: This was a descriptive cross sectional analytical study was carried out at obstetrics and gynecology department of PDU Government medical college and civil hospital, Rajkot, Gujarat, from January 2014 to June 2014. Post natal mothers who had delivered in the hospital, who had previously used intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD) for a period of more than one month & who agreed to be a part of the study were included in the study. Results: A total of 110 women who agreed to be a part of the study, were interviewed. The mean age of study participants was 29.2±3.3 years & over half of them resided in urban areas (56.36%) & were housewives (74.54%). Over 90% of the participants were aware of barrier or hormonal methods of contraception & 25 to 50 % of them had also used them in the past. Mean duration of IUD use amongst the study participants was 36.9 ± 18.9 months. While over three fourth of the participants reported to have been provided some sort of counselling before IUD insertion only 64% of them agreed that their pelvic examination was done simultaneously. Awareness about IUD was significantly higher among graduate & working women while there was no significant association of knowledge with other independent variables. Conclusion: There was lack of knowledge amongst participants regarding IUDs as well as many myths which needs to be addressed in order to improve its utilisation by the community.

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