Contraceptive choices following first childbirth among working women in Udupi taluk

Birth control is an important determinant of maternal survival. Contraceptive use helps the couple to have the desired number of children in the family as well as to practice the desired birth interval between pregnancies. (1) To study the choices of contraceptive method by working women following the first childbirth. (2) To study the factors influencing the decision making for the contraception by these working women. A community-based cross sectional study of 178 women from urban and rural parts was done using a semi-structured questionnaire at Udupi taluk, Karnataka. 30 × 7 cluster sampling technique was followed. Systematic random sampling was done to select total 30 clusters from urban and rural areas. It was shown that mean age of women was 29 ± 3.516 years, husbands’ mean age was 33 ± 4.711. Majority (74.7%) of the women were from rural area. Majority (99.4%) had knowledge of contraceptives but only 43% were practicing contraception. Majority (44.9%) were using copper T. Health concern (60.7%) was the major factor influencing decision making about family planning services. Majority (91.6%) couples took joint decision about contraception. Although the awareness of contraceptives among working women was high, less than half of the women were practicing contraception. Copper T was used by the majority of working women. Fear of side-effects was the major concern among non-users of contraceptives. Decision making was based on the mutual discussion between the couple.