Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Family Planning Among Saudi Primary Health Care Attendees in Al-Ahsa, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Assessing community awareness and practice of the significance and methods of family planning is critical for improving the effectiveness and quality of services, policies, and planning, which has a positive impact on the health and quality of life of women, children, families, and communities.Objective: This study aims to determine Saudi population's knowledge, attitude, and practice of family planning in Al-Ahsa, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. The study included randomly selected participants (male and female Saudi primary health care attendees). All adult Saudi individuals of both genders attending primary health care centers were eligible for inclusion in this study. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 15 (Released 2006; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States). Descriptive statistics for the prevalence and quantitative variables was used.Results: The study included 672 participants; 78.6% of them were females and 21.4% were males. 23.8% of participants aged between 20 and 30 years old. 73.8% of participants heard of family planning before. The source of information about family planning was reported as 36.9% from the Internet, 27.4% from relatives, 21.4% from the doctor, and 14.3% from books. 21.4% think that long-term contraceptive use led to permanent infertility. 81.0% of the participants said that they tend to use family planning methods. 78.6% of the participants have used a family planning method before, where 25.8% of the participants used natural contraception methods, 21.2% used surgical contraception, 27.3% used condoms, and 12.1% used hormonal tablets, while 13.6% used nothing. However, 65.2% currently use contraceptives. 31.8% use the natural method of family planning currently, 21.2% use surgical methods, and 6.1% use condoms. Conclusion:In comparison to many studies previously mentioned, the rate of family planning utilization was average, as was the level of knowledge and attitude toward family planning. However, there were some mistaken beliefs among participants regarding contraceptives. Age, gender, the duration of a marriage, education level, working status, and monthly income were all found to be significantly associated with knowledge of family planning.