Access to mass media messages, and use of family planning in Nigeria: a spatio-demographic analysis from the 2013 DHS

Abstract

BackgroundNigeria has the highest population in sub-Saharan Africa with high birth and growth rates. There is therefore need for family planning to regulate and stabilize this population. This study examined the relationship between access to mass media messages on family planning and use of family planning in Nigeria. It also investigated the impacts of spatio-demographic variables on the relationship between access to mass media messages and use of family planning.MethodsData from the 2013 demographic and health survey of Nigeria which was conducted in all the 36 states of Nigeria, and Abuja were used for the study. The sample was weighted to ensure representativeness. Univariate, bivariate and binary logistic regressions were conducted. The relationship between each of the access to mass media messages, and the family planning variables were determined with Pearson correlation analysis.ResultsThe correlation results showed significant but weak direct relationships between the access to mass media messages and use of family planning at p < 0.0001 with access to television messages (r = 0.239) being associated with highest use of family planning. Some of the results of the adjusted regression analysis showed that access to television messages (OR = 1.2.225; p < 0.0001), and radio messages (OR = 1.945; p < 0.0001) increase the likelihood of the use of family planning. The adjusted regression model also indicated increased likelihood in the use of family planning by respondents with secondary education (OR = 2.709; p < 0.0001), the married (OR = 1.274; p < 0.001), and respondents within the highest wealth quintiles (OR = 3.442; p < 0.0001).ConclusionsThere exist significant variations within spatio-demographic groups with regards to having access to mass media messages on family planning, and on the use of family planning. The results showed that access to mass media messages increases the likelihood of the use of family planning. Also people with higher socioeconomic status and those from the Southern part of the country make more use of family planning. There is need to improve the socioeconomic status of the populations. Also, the quality and regularity of mass media messages should be improved, while other communication avenues such as traditional institutions, blogs, and seminars for youths should be used to make family planning messages more acceptable.

Multivariate Analysis of Household Decision Making, Contraceptive Use and Fertility Behaviour among Ever-Married Men in Nigeria

“…This study revealed that men who were exposed to the mass media had a lower likelihood to want more children than men without media exposure. This was also observed by Gupta et al (2003), Ajaero et al (2016).…”

Inequalities in reproductive health care use in five West-African countries: A decomposition analysis of the wealth-based gaps

“…This suggests that poorer women Table 5 Decomposition of use of facility-based childbirth services gaps (Continued) have characteristics that prevent them from receiving family planning messages. Socio-demographic characteristics such as religion, residence, and marital status negatively influence the exposure to family planning information, which has also been observed in other studies [11]. It can, therefore, be said that family planning information via mass media has not been well targeted to the poor population group, and does not address their peculiarities.…”

“…This applies to the use of reproductive health care services as well. While several studies have shown that better-off women have easier access to reproductive health care [5,[7][8][9], other studies have demonstrated that socio-demographic factors such as marital status, education, occupation, residence typology, attitude of health workers, and distance to health facility also contribute to the inequality in the use reproductive health care among women [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. In addition, it is unclear to what extent these determinants explain the use of reproductive health care and contribute to the differences between the groups [6,17].…”

Factors associated with intrauterine contraceptive device use among women of reproductive age group in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A case control study

“…This finding of the study calls for provision of due emphasis on the mass-media utilization to deliver important health messages related to IUCD [9,17,25,29]. Mass media outlets are accepted as a reliable sources of information than other sources because of many reasons such as; mass media messages are broadcasted for millions of audiences at once, messages can be nationally monitored, the approaches to deliver mass-media messages are often explicit and in a demonstrable fashion and the mass media messages can impact other important members of the family, in this instance, husbands, whom this study demonstrates are important in choosing or refusing IUCD use [30,31]. On the other hand, messages that are communicated by the healthcare providers working in the health centers might not be considered as reliable as mass media messages.…”