Awareness and acceptance of postpartum contraceptives among recently delivered women in a tertiary facility in North Central

Abstract

Background: Postpartum contraception is essential for ensuring appropriate pregnancy spacing and avoiding unintended pregnancies. Poor awareness and fear of side effects may contribute to low contraceptive acceptance in the postpartum period. Tertiary healthcare facilities are positioned to provide effective counselling to improve uptake of postpartum contraceptives. Objectives: To assess the level of awareness and identify determinants influencing the willingness to accept postpartum contraceptives among recently delivered women. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at the postnatal wards of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Ilorin, from 4th of August to 29th of October 2022. Participants were consenting postpartum women who delivered at the facility during the study period and met the inclusion criteria. Structured questionnaires were administered to participants after they had provided informed consent. The questionnaire had sections on participants’ socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge of, and acceptance of postpartum contraceptive and determinants of willingness to accept postpartum contraception. Data obtained from the questionnaire were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS version 22.0). Findings were presented in frequency tables and charts; a value of P< 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: There was a total of 603 deliveries during the study period. However, 420 women were eligible to participate, and 303 consented to participate. A total of 73.6% (223/303) of the participants were aware of postpartum contraceptives, and 59.7% (181/303) were willing to accept a method of postpartum contraception. Levels of education, parity, age, and social classes
were determinants of willingness to accept postpartum contraception. The most preferred method was implants (38.6%), and the least preferred method was sterilization (1.3%). Conclusion: The level of awareness of postpartum contraceptives and willingness to accept them, among postpartum women in this study, was relatively high. The Willingness to accept a method was influenced by educational level, parity, age, and social class.