Association between tribal status and spacing contraceptive use in rural Maharashtra, India

Abstract

This study examines associations between tribal status and spacing contraception use (SCU) in rural Maharashtra, India. Cross-sectional analyses were conducted on baseline survey data from non-sterilized married couples (n=867) participating in the CHARM family planning evaluation study. Participants were aged 18-30 years and 67.6% tribal; 27.7% reported current SCU. Crude regression analyses indicated tribals were less likely to use contraception (AOR=0.04, 95% CI=0.29, 0.54); the association was lost after adjusting for education, higher parity and desire for pregnancy, factors associated with tribal status. Findings suggest that lower SCU among tribals is driven by social vulnerabilities and higher fertility preferences.

Tribal eligible couple and care providers' perspective on family planning: A qualitative study in Keonjhar district, Odisha, India

“…15 Present study reveals that tribal of our study area prefer for girl child to get dowry for their daughter's marriage, which is not the case in other parts of the state. A study from Maharastra state has found tribal couples to have preference for male child, 16 which was opposite to ours. Both boys and girls in our study area undergo early marriage, which is in accordance with other studies that tribal girls are getting married at lesser age.…”

“…The unique socio-cultural barriers such as 'not allowing woman to worship if she undergoes sterilization', 'husband will leave his spouse if she doesn't give birth early'; myths like 'sterilization will make them inactive', 'sexual inactiveness will make their spouse separate', 'IUCD and condom may travel and retain in abdomen', 'IUCD will reduce sexual satisfaction' and 'OCP will cause birth of more female children' were observed from this study. Other researchers have found social factors like social limitations, 16 preference of child birth, 15 preference for girl child 25 ; and myths like "people who use contraceptives end up with health problems", "contraceptives are dangerous to women's health", "contraceptives can harm your womb" 26,27 ; and personal problems like 'shyness to ask for FP', 28 'expulsion of IUCD' and 'complain of side effects' 29 as important barriers to modern contraceptive use.…”

“…Low awareness among tribal people about the health consequences due to repeated child birth as observed in this study supports the evidence from a study that found the gap between two children among tribal to be low with more than 53% having birth interval less than 24 months. 16 Limited awareness on how to prevent unwanted pregnancy and where to seek quality abortion care services were the reasons for their visit to informal health practitioners for abortion care service. This makes them vulnerable to post abortion complications.…”

Pattern of contraceptive use, determinants and fertility intentions among tribal women in Kerala, India: a cross-sectional study

“…The contraceptive use varies in other states among the tribals with higher use reported in Assam (36%)18 and Bengal (40%) 19. In the state of Maharashtra it varied from 18.7%20 to a spacing contraceptive use of 27.7% (10.8% pill, 13.3% condom, 2.0% IUD and 1.6% withdrawal or rhythm) 21. This also underlines the heterogenous character of the tribal groups across the country varying in population size, language and their interaction with the rest of society22 and thus having different contraceptive use rates.…”

Male Perception and Participation in Family Planning Among Tribal Communities of Maharashtra, India: A Mixed-Method Study

“…The tribal population has a very low use of both spacing and limiting contraceptive methods and a high unmet need for family planning compared with other social groups. [4][5][6][7] A study conducted among Rajasthan tribes demonstrated that only 19% of women used modern contraceptive methods, the use of male contraceptive methods was even less, and the practice of extended breastfeeding was universal among the tribes. 8 Another study conducted among the West Bengal tribes of Santals and Lodhas revealed that these tribes are aware of sterilization but are less aware of spacing contraceptive methods.…”